Circulation

For those of us scrambling to get our tax returns done, why not take a quick look to see where your taxes actually go? Whitehouse.gov’s website has a tax receipt calculator. How many times have folks filled out their taxes and didn’t have a thought as to where the money went? Or, for those on the other end of the spectrum who might’ve assumed where their taxes were going using Jon Kyl-style math, this is a nice resource to get a more authoritative idea where the dollars flow.

Tomorrow – Friday, Oct. 1st – is follow a library day — aka #followalibrary – on Twitter. Read more about it on the #followalibrary blog.

#followalibrary has a lot of great lists, especially for international libraries. I also have a long list of twittering libraries (U.S.) posted in my blog – check it out. Pick a few. Tweet about ‘em. Share your love for libraries!

Looking for fresh music? Shuffler.fm takes music blogs and makes them into a live-streaming radio station over the internet. The opening page has a list of  ~108 different genres ranging from Indie to Rap to Oldies to Emo, Brit Pop, Tech, Country, and so on. After you choose a genre, Shuffler.fm does the work for you – surfing from one music blog to another. A toolbar resides at the top of each blog that allows you to click through songs or change the genre. While not always reliable, if you want to learn more about the song you’re hearing, just take a look at the website Shuffler.fm has landed on. (Not every site included information about the particular song playing).

How do they do this? Shuffler.fm says they “aggregate music posted on a (more or less) curated list of blogs. Every time something new pops up on a RSS feed from one of these blogs [they] find out what music the blogger is talking about on that post and then ask last.fm for some genres for that song.” Once they get the genres back, they filter and file the song into the genre channels.

- I heard about Shuffler.fm via @laurapasquini – thanks!

R.I.P. Bloglines. My first RSS-feeder. Thanks for keeping me organized and sharing the latest news with me. They say that sites like Twitter and Facebook killed you, but I still think there’s a need for RSS-feed readers such as yourself. The speed at which info runs through other social networking sites is fast and constant – unless I’m logged in 24/7, I’m bound to miss information if I rely on my social networks. Ah, but with you, my RSS-Reader, I never missed anything!

RSS feeders and social networking sites serve different purposes for me, so one doesn’t replace the other.

The typical ways libraries use Twitter include sharing library announcements, posting news about special events, exhibits, and instruction sessions; as a way to keep in touch with other libraries and librarian peers; as a short newsletter, a way to share information about new items in the collection; and for public relations and marketing. Here are a few libraries that are thinking outside the box and providing creative ways to promote themselves, share information and connect with their followers.

Skokie Public Library [@skokielibrary]

SPL sends out Tweets every Wednesday, asking their community of followers to try to “Stump the Librarian.” The tweets direct people to their Facebook page, where people post questions to test the librarian’s skills. The game runs all day and Skokie Librarians post the answers they find to the Facebook page.

skokie tweet

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library [@Kennedy1960]

The JFK Presidential Library created @Kennedy1960, where they re-enact JFK’s 1960
presidential campaign trail. The tweets are done in “real time” as if it were 1960. The library not only tweets what JFK was doing at the moment, but they tweet quotes from his campaign speeches and links to archived material such as congratulatory letters and other
documents created or received during the campaign. Yesterday they posted a link to a scanned copy of a letter from May 12, 1960, from Congressman Daniel Flood congratulating JFK on his win in West Virginia. It’s really neat to actually see the scanned copy of the original document. @Kennedy1960 has over 2,100 followers!

jfk1960 tweet

Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library’s Job Help Center [@JHCatCML]

CMPL has created a Job Help Center for their community. It has a manager, they have a job finder (a self service tool that helps job seekers explore local career opportunities) and they have access to career-related databases. In addition, they offer programming for people interested in employment, career changes, etc. Their twitter account provides information about all these resources.

jhcatcml tweet

Nebraska Library Commission [@nlc_reference]

When they originally created their account, they published tweets with only the questions they received, but no answers. However, recently they started adding links to answers. It’s fun to follow them to see what types of questions they get as well as the authoritative sources they use to find the answers. Patron information is not revealed in these tweets, so there are no privacy issues to worry about.

New York Public Library’s multiple accounts [@nypl]

The NYPL has created Twitter accounts tailored to different segmented markets. This is a great idea because it allows folks to pick and choose NYPL Twitter feeds that fit their interests. Some examples of NYPL Twitter accounts:

• New York Public Library Digital Experience Group [@nypldgtl]
• LIVE from the NYPL [@LIVEfromtheNYPL]
• NYPL Manuscripts Division [@NYPLMssarchives]
• NYPL Map Division [@NYPLMaps]
• New York Public Library at Nite [@NYPLatNite]
• Teen Central [@TnCntrl]
• Young Lions [@Young_Lions]
• Homework Help [@HomeworkNYC]
• NYPL Kids [@nyplkids]
• Library Shop [@nyplshop]
• NYPL Teaching [@teachNYPL]
• Summer Reading Program [@summerreading]