Geek the Library
Monday OCLC kicked off their Geek the Library campaign with Iowa (my home state!) and Georgia (my current state!). What is Geek the Library? Its a community-based public awareness campaign. The idea is to increase public awareness of libraries and the important role they play and the funding we so desperately need. People can share what they are passionate about using geek as a verb
Geek\Verb.
- To love, to enjoy, to celebrate, to have an intense passion for.
- To express interest in.
- To possess a large amount of knowledge in.
- To promote
I love (or is that geek?) the potential of this campaign! When they get the gear up I’ll be first in line for a shirt and coffee cup! Right now they are testing the campaign in Georgia and Iowa, with plans to kick off nationwide in 2010. I’ll be interested to see how it plays out. The site looks slick and being a geek is cool in many circles now, I’m sure it will be a hit with librarian. Will it raise public awareness and more importantly funding for libraries? I hope so.
For the public they have show your support page. I do with they had made the Local Events and the Myth or Reality page more prominent.
For libraries they have special geek page
Show some love connect with them on Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook or share your story, what do you geek?
Technology for Tight Budgets
Times are tight, and likely to get tighter, if you’re looking to save money talk with your IT department. They may have some helpful solutions.
Take a look at the University of Missouri’s IT department suggestions – Technology for Tight Budges. Many of these can be used by libraries and other businesses looking to save funds.
- Investigate the Technologies Available to Stretch Your Budget
- MeetingPlace Audio/Web Conferencing
- SharePoint Online Collaboration Tools
- IT Training — In the Classroom and Online
- Captivate e-Learning Authoring Tools
- Voice over IP (VoIP)
- Go Green, IT! Power Down and Virtualize
- Server Virtualization
- Videoconferencing
- TelePresence
- Smartphone Technologies
The Laptops are Here!
The laptops are here! I snuck in early this morning to sneak a picture of one of them. Dont’ tell Robin!
Yes all 15 are red, they were on clearance from Gateway. We also purchased an instructor laptop that is blue, it’s a bit more powerful. Even better, it came with a free digital camera! I’m hoping we’ll have more pictures of programs and events on MRRL’s Flickr account now!
The laptops are for a Grant we received for a Mobile Technology Teaching Lap. We’ll be using them to teach patrons basic computer classes like email, Internet safety in addition to classes about blogging and facebook!


