One of my presentations from Notes from the 2009 Internet Librarian Conference with Erin Downey Howerton Sneaking the Social Web into Your Library View more presentations from Bobbi Newman. Erin’s slides and blog post I mentioned during the Q&A that you can do all sorts of things with RSS. An audience member asked me if I could include some of that information in my post. Here goes David Rothman’s Favorite RSS Resources and Tools *start here* Explaining RSS Resources to help you choose a feed aggregator Google Reader Tips and Plug-ins RSS-to-Email tools Publishing RSS content on Web Pages Web-Based RSS-to-Web-Page tools Hosted RSS-to-Web-Page Tools Feed mashing and filtering tools and Creating feeds for pages that don’t offer them From Mashable The Ultimate RSS Toolbox – 120+ RSS Resources includes readers rss to email converters feed validators, plugins mixer ping tools directories and tips & hacks. It’s ok if you don’t know what all of those are, bookmark it for later when you do. Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Share on FriendFeed Buzz it up Share on netvibes share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Buzz it up Subscribe to the comments on this post Print for later
Posts Tagged ‘ staff ’
Every Library Should Have a Sandbox to Play In
Notes from the 2009 Internet Librarian Conference Matt Hamilton What is a sandbox? Safety model Place to test code that is isolated from production environment Software development model test installation that allows to role back changes as necessary Wiki model environment not consider production but just for ppl to learn new skills Who can learn from software – staff, ppl who want to play & learn, helps keep up on cutting edge technologies, small IT staff to explore if its worth to develop expertise in something Sandbox is a safe place to place Learning environment Inviate patrons to be beta testers, get feedback before implement new services Is this something that is really going to be good for patrons but something were just enamored with for the moment. Place to perfect your craft – Two approaches – and internal option Lisa Haitts at Installs software that is heard about at conferences How do you make it happen? 3 approaches Virtual appliance marketplace, from VMware preconfigured virtual machines Wanted to be the type of IT department that says yes, still have mission to protect data etc so can’t just say use, but can say yes, but… Working with virtual desktops, so
Managers – The Message You’re Sending About Time is Affecting Customer Service
The choice you need to make is will it affect it in a good way or a bad way? We are all busy. My to-do list is so long at this point I keep a master running list and a small list just for today, because looking at the long list inspires panic. As individuals, managers and organizations it can be easy to keep adding responsibilities, expectations and tasks to our list and to the lists of others. Especially at a time like this, when you may be short staffed, or just busier than normal (library usage goes up during a recession) or both. Unfortunately this attitude towards time can really hurt you in customer service. How staff feel about their time and the expectation from management affects how they interact with patrons. It’s the difference between handing someone a call number and vaguely gesturing towards the stacks and leaving the desk and walking the patron to the book. It’s the difference between hand the book over and walking away or asking if you can help them find anything else. It shows up in the type of greeting patrons receive in that minutes of extra chit-chat so many love, in
ALA Learning – On Demand Training for Staff
I have a new post over at ALA Learning about on demand training for staff, the benefits of it and how to make it happen. Because these impromptu, or on demand, sessions are one on one, people often feel more comfortable asking questions they may not ask in front of a group. One on one sessions have other advantages too. You move at the pace of the individual, not the group or a schedule. You can walk them through the process step by step, more than once if needed. You can see if the person doesn’t understand right away and explain it again or in a different way. I also find that providing on demand training can make staff more interested in attending your training classes, give you new ideas for training sessions and even get you invited to department meetings for training! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Share on FriendFeed Buzz it up Share on netvibes share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tumblr it Buzz it up Subscribe to the comments on this post Print for later Tell a friend
It’s not about the money
I’ve been reading, watching and listening to a lot about motivation lately. Not intentionally but once you start thinking about what motivates people to create, to participate, to get involved it starts to show up in places you don’t expect it. Sometimes I got looking for it too. Over and over I notice the same theme, it’s not about the money. Sure money is important up to a certain point, but after that you need something else. In times like these when we are asked to do more with less this is something managers should keep in mind. One of the videos I watched is this TED talk by Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation. He talks about the mismatch of what science knows about motivation and what business does. Essentially as long as you’re paying people adequately and fairly, money is no longer the most powerful motivation. Watch the video and maybe buy the book when it comes out. You can also read the entire transcript on TED. There are a lot of interesting points, here is one of my favorites: “Results Only Work Environment. The ROWE. Created by two American consultants, in place in place at
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