Wiki's and the library community

I have previously blogged about my experiences editing articles on Wikipedia and in setting up a private wiki for our library to use in developing policies. I've been using PBWiki and just love it. The newest version makes editing and adding new pages so easy. We have 4 different staff members all contributing to the wiki and find it very helpful for coordinating our policy development that we need to have done for accreditation. If you've never used a wiki before, check out the PBwiki tour!. It is so easy to use and incredibly useful for coordinating projects no wonder that their motto is “Make a PBwiki as easily as a peanut butter sandwich”

I've also created a wiki for a documentary film project that has multiple contributors. We have folks that add all sorts of research on their own schedules which means we don't have to set face-to-face meetings too often. If you want to see what that wiki looks like, check here


They also offer some educator videos so check them out today!

Snow and Silly Librarians

it was supposed to snow today - a lot ......

and today is Friday the 13th .......

and the snow didn't come ......

and we were supposed to have a CHUG meeting but postponed it because of the anticipated storm....

so .......

a very funny librarian recreated the event....... here

and who says we don't have a sense of humor?

Economics stuff

This is what I get for not posting since Thursday - a backlog in my bloglines account of important stuff to read - so today's post is about Economics and has absolutely nothing to do with books but with information

this started by reading The Travelin' Librarian's newest post with the clip of the roller coaster ride through the history of housing prices - if you check his blog look for the funny clip on Will It Blend!
Somehow or another (doncha just love the internets?) from the roller coaster ride I stumbled across the standupeconomist and his principles of economics clip - all of a sudden I find out that
a) Scientists have a sense of humor and sponsor sessions from the Annals of Improbable Research at their annual meeting
and
b) Economics can be funny

Then I wondered whatever happened to the Journal of Irreproducible Results which I fondly remember from my time as a Librarian at the Franklin Institute and lo and behold here it is

now from the JIR site, I found a thoroughly important study on the greatest threat to our ecosystem, none other than the publication of The National Geographic Magazine
as a former bookseller and current librarian, I would like to add that unwanted issues of NG are the bane of our existence!

now back to my real job

Library History Buff

cool new site of the day - check out Larry Nix's website on library history and assorted stuff - he's got bookplates, china, stock certificates, card catalogs and their amazing re-uses, post cards etc. etc. etc.

Wikipedia

Editing Wikipedia is so much fun - today I cleaned up the bibliography on Joan of Arc and added a reference to the article on Basil of Caesarea - I think each time we add a new book I will check to see if it can be added to and article in Wikipedia and then link to the OCLC citation

Rex Libris

Rex Libris - new to me, but then I tend to be the last one to hear about such stuff - anyway they are going to make a movie about this heroic librarian - guess I need to get caught up on my comic book reading

Book clubs

ok - so I am the laziest book reader that I know - it takes me forever to actually read an entire book and everyone at work has been pestering me to join in the book club - this month they took my suggestion and decided to read Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz since it keeps in the Catholic theme that they like - so I ordered it via ILL and faster than a speeding bullet, it has arrived - looks like I'm going to actually read it this weekend

in surfing around, I found this great website for book clubs that includes discussion guides - check it out

Uses for old books

Thanks to the Librarian in Black for pointing out the very useful post on Instructables about building bookshelves out of old encyclopedias. What a fun website - look at some of the other book related things I found

How to make a secret book for stashing your gin or gun or valuables
The all important invisible book shelf so that you can mystify your friends
How about making that crummy old book into an I-Pod case?
Or your own version of digitizing books using "Steal this book" as an example
Then you can take a digitized book and turn it into a wall hanging
Or perhaps you need some book covers and have a stash of old brochures hanging around
Need a clock? Have a favorite book? Marry the two
How about dissecting that really bad novel that you just read?

sheesh - so many books, so little time

Library Hotel

I no longer have any excuse to not make a trip to New York since I just found the place to stay for a fruitcake booklover after reading the most delightful review in the Washington Post. I suppose I could always combine it with a trip to the Library Bar in the East Village or have lunch at the Algonquin Hotel. Yikes - too many book musings - must get back to my real work

Edible Books

So late in the day yesterday I wandered over to Boulder for 8th International Edible Book Show & Tea. What a hoot! Members of The Book Arts League get together every year for a fundraiser and true demonstration of their incredible talents. Entries ranged from a fabulous Sudoku board of cheese and sausage to a beautiful rendition of one of my favorite pop-ups, Jan Pienkowski's Dinner Time

Looking at last year's entries, I have to say that the stack of books done by Amy DeWitt, Pastry Chef at the St. Julien Hotel & Spa, is still my favorite

Complete with a silent auction, the event finished with the consumption of the entires - what a feast for booklovers!

Who Says Librarians don't have a sense of humor?

OK - I was busy yesterday listing to NPR to see if I could detect the fake stories so I never made it online. Imagine my surprise when I read this mornings blog postings to see that OCLC and Google made a surprise announcement yesterday about their upcoming merger. Andrew Pace summed it up best with "Where's our cut?" and Jenny Levine's post on ALA TechSource gave us the insider's perspective.