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Library Management




  • chrystie, Community Building, Library Management, Online Collaboration

    what’s your dinner question?

    August 27th, 2008 | Permalink | 2 Comments

    WebJunction staffers have a bit of a tradition. Every time we go out to dinner with more than three or four of us – usually it involves the colleagues we work with over great distances – we have what we call a “dinner question”. It all started when I asked a table full of people – there were maybe eight or nine of us – if you had all the money and all the talent, what would you do for your job? It’s my standard question that I like to ask everyone I know, as well as ponder myself (most often I think I’d like to be a jazz singer, like the lead vocalist in pink martini).

    Over the years we’ve discussed everything from “what animal would you be?” to “who was your first love?” and then back to “what was your favorite meal?” and then “who’s the most famous person you’ve ever met?” or “what was your most terrifying travel experience?” Every time we’ve done this, inside our team and alongside our friends and colleagues in library land, we’ve learned a lot about each other as well as instigated some of the most interesting conversations I’ve ever had. These questions, as simple as they may have been, have made us stronger as a team, as a community at WebJunction, and as a community of library professionals. Now I have a hunch that’s an important part of the community building work that we do, and I’ve been thinking about how to get it into the online environment.

    If you have an idea about how we can translate these f2f conversations into an online space, I’d love to hear. (Or maybe we’re already doing something like that with St. Jerry’s Virtual Scriptorium? Update 8/28/08: changed link to collapsed page view, where you can login and post to this thread. St. Jerry’s thread is at the top of the list. Thanks Roy!)

    And, next time you’re out to dinner with colleagues in library land, try it, and let us know what happens!

  • Community Building, Design, Library 2.0, Library Management, Next WJ, Online Collaboration, Social Computing, Web 2.0

    YOUR My WebJunction and Thank You!

    August 8th, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?

    The My WebJunction Page may just be my favorite feature on the freshly relaunched WJ site. It is powerful, it is unique to Libraryland and it was designed and created specifically for us as library professionals. Plus, as you can see in video below, it’s just pretty cool! Who knew library staff would ever be able to do this in our own unique profession specific network, built just for US? Follow the link to the page hosting the video on WebJunction or just click the play button below to see why the My WebJunction Page has me all jazzed. Then log-in, make some connections and friends and watch what happens. If you haven’t discovered YOUR My WebJunction Page, we’re hoping you’ll be eager to start using it after you see this:

    I also wanted to take a second to personally thank every single one of you that have tried the site out during its first week. We have seen huge amounts of activity this week and are so happy to see folks diving in. We are also very pleased to get your feedback as well. Most things are working well on the site, but please know that we are working very hard to respond to and address any question, concerns and bugs that have come up. And we thank you very much for your patience in those instances. This is truly a library community resource and you telling us what you think, how to make it better and what you would like to see in the future will be what helps make that future happen. So please keep contacting us, keep kicking the tires and continue to dive in. See you on Your, Mine and OUR “My WebJunction”! :)

  • Celebrations, Library Management, Online Collaboration

    Five years, five lessons, five memories

    May 15th, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?

    I fell off the turnip truck in June of 2003, stumbling in the door to join the WebJunction project with little idea of what I was getting into. There are way more than five things I have learned since then, but here are the biggies:

    1. It’s not about technology. WJ is successful because we have great people and we work with great people–and those people make great things happen. That is our not-so-secret weapon.

    2. Hang in there. There are few virtues as valuable as persistence. There have always been and will always be tons of new and creative initiatives in libraryland: I think what sets us apart is that we just keep at it and keep at it and find ways to keep it stable and keep it going. I love that!

    3. Take the middle path. It’s not content or community, it’s not big libraries or small libraries, it’s not folksonomy or taxonomy, it’s not top-down or bottom-up. Balancing seemingly irreconcilable opposites is one of the main keys to our character and our strength.

    4. If it’s going to be difficult, it might as well be fun. Humor has saved us from ourselves over and over again. This is a high-stress business and it helps enormously to find and enjoy the absurdity of it all. I am so grateful for the amazing collection of funnybones that I’ve been privileged to work with.

    5. We’ve only just begun. As our Seattle staff has grown from 3 to 30 and our network of partners has exploded exponentially, it’s become ever clearer that WebJunction has the potential to represent and support the consciousness and vitality of the library world in even greater ways than we have so far. Building on our considerable success so far to realize WJ’s potential as a comprehensive platform for library staff–that’s what keeps me excited and motivated and passionate about WJ.

    OK, I am an old-timer so I will maunder on a bit more, as old-timers are wont to do. Here are a few select memories from my five years at the WJ:

    2003. Writing my first Crossroads newsletter in June 2003 a few weeks after I started at WJ (Web-what?), and getting markup from Chrystie Hill on my copy, in which every instance of the word “you” was crossed out and replaced with the word “we”. The beginning of my online community education.
    2004. Putting the one-year anniversary cupcake on the site in May 2004, one of our first custom home page graphics, I shudder to admit, but at least it was a small step toward the much more graphically dynamic site we have today.
    2005. The first OCLC blog salon at ALA 2005 in Chicago, when it seemed like we really hit a new critical mass of awareness and interest. There were people who actually recognized what we had started writing on our baby-infant blog. (And I got inspired to write my very first parody song ever, “The Blog Party“.)
    2006. Getting a fresh round of funding, validating the work we’ve done and propelling us into the future. “You mean we’re for real?” Boy that feels good.
    2007. Presenting the Government Documents librarians workshop in Denver in spring 2007, and seeing the palpable excitement in a room of a whole new type of mostly non-WJ-savvy users about the possibilities for the site. Something clicks: hmm, maybe this really is real.
    2008. Welcoming an influx of dedicated, professional, committed staff who see WebJunction as, yep, a real thing, not just an idea. This is great–they actually know what they’re doing AND they think WJ is a cool place to be? Wow, that is an accomplishment!

    And the best is yet to come…

  • Celebrations, Community Building, Library Management, Online Collaboration, Teens, Tim

    Move over Free Cone Day: Saturday is Free Comics!

    May 3rd, 2008 | Permalink | Comment?

    Free Comic Book DayEach year in the Spring, Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream runs a “free cone” promo at their stores. Kids (and parents) line up around the block—last year my two ice cream junkies waited 40 minutes—40 minutes on line and the cone was gone in five! Luckily, the goodies from Free Comic Book Day should last quite a bit longer (and could bring returns for years).

    All you need to do is stop by a participating comic store and make your free pick from a selection of titles like Archie, Superman, Hellboy, World of Aspen, X-men, Tiny Titans and many more. Seriously. These are free. I know you are thinking: “What’s the catch?” Nothing is free, right?

    (more…)

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