Archive for the ‘recommendation’ Category
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
Library fans, MLIS students, and librarians alike – I discovered a new online resource today via the National Center for Educational Statistics: Library Statistics Program – Compare Public Libraries.
Ok, I bet most of you librarians knew about this resource already, but for a rookie MLIS student, it was new to me. As I played around and perused the various links, it occurred to me what a great resource this would be for those who are applying for jobs in public libraries. After all, when one is applying for a job at a library, they should definitely do their research about it! This site can provide that information for you. Want to know how many librarians at a specific public library have their MLIS? Need to know information about circulation statistics or total expenditures? Other items of interest you can discover: information on employee benefits, salaries and wages expenditures, operating revenue and expenditures, organizational characteristics, size of collection, and types of services.
Furthermore, if you’re curious about the differences between libraries, this site allows the ability to compare them! I tried it out by comparing two libraries within 15 miles of one another: Corvallis-Benton County Public Library and the Albany Public Library. You can choose all sorts of variables, in this particular example, I only chose one variable (local revenue).
What’s even more exciting is that one can create reports based on this information and download the data into an Excel spreadsheet. So Groovy!
Tags: libraries, NCES, public libraries, reference, resource, statistics
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Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
LOVE it! My favorite musician is back after a 3 year hiatus with a new CD, Promised Land. I highly recommend it.
Tags: dar williams, music, non-MLIS, recommendation
Posted in dar williams, music, non-MLIS, recommendation | View Comments
Thursday, December 4th, 2008
Through following some folks on Twitter, I noted that quite a few were using and positively tweeting about TweetDeck. I decided to take a look. I downloaded it, tried it out and must say really like it.
TweetDeck is an Adobe Air desktop application. It is another way to improve the functionality of Twitter several ways:
- Allows the user to break down twitter feeds into columns
- Followers can be grouped together and separated by columns. (I tried it out by creating a “libraries” column, a “librarians” column, and then a column for all my other friends. This is nice because I can keep the different subjects/interests grouped together, thus making it easier to find who/what I’m looking for.
- Among the same vein, users can be filtered by username, tweet text, time frame
- It has a nice search function to search within your followers or all Twitter users
- The default columns created are the three original: all tweets, replies and direct messages
- Easily resizable (want one column, full screen, etc)
- It auto updates
TweetDeck also has a Twitter account (@TweetDeck), so if you want to stay on top of news, updates, upgrades, you can follow them. They are seeking feedback via Twitter, email, its blog or its website.
A nice review of TweetDeck can be found at Darren Rowse’s TwiTip blog. (Great blog for more information on Twitter. It’s also a great place to get ideas on how you can use it in libraries, for yourself, your brand, etc).
Posted in 3rd party app, TweetDeck, recommendation, twitter | View Comments
Saturday, November 29th, 2008
I am a sucker for really cool-looking cookbooks (you know, the ones with a to-die-for morsel on the cover). If they have really pretty pictures inside next to the recipes, I usually buy them. (Unfortunately, this also means I have several cookbooks — covered in dust — piled away on my kitchen shelves).
Anyway, I found a cookbook that truly, truly is my absolute favorite at the moment, and I wanted to share it with anyone else out there who loves vegetarian food, doesn’t have time to cook, and wants to eat healthy, low-fat stuff… oh wow, this cookbook is for you. IloveitIloveitIloveit!
This particular book doesn’t have pretty pictures inside, but the outside cover appealed to me (of course). I actually checked this book in during one of my shifts at the CPL, and before letting it go from book return pile-to lazer-beeper-thingy-to be put back on the shelf, I opened it up, looked out the yummy recipes and checked it out for myself.
(On a side note, having the ability to check something in to check it back out for yourself – if there isn’t a hold on it for someone else, of course – is one of the wonderful things about volunteering in the Circulation department).
I took the book home, tried out several of the recipes – ohmygoodnesslovedthem - and then bought my own copy. I have been cooking meals from it since.
Therefore, if anyone is looking for something new and veggie-fabulous, I suggest giving this book a try. It is so good!
Posted in Circulation, cookbook, recommendation, vegetarian | View Comments
