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Sunday, January 27, 2002 |
Okay, so I lied about beefing up the list of Shifted Libraries, but cut me some slack. It was my birthday weekend, and we experienced spring in January in Chicago. Did we actually break the record for high temperature today? And the cutest puppy in the world got a nice, long walk around a nearby lake (it's more like a big pond, but humor me). I'll get around to the list, though. Just you wait and see.
11:26:16 PM Permanent link here
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This is weird - I was going to link to Cybiko in the previous entry, but their home page at http://www.cybiko.com/ won't come up for me. I thought maybe they changed URLs, so I started searching for them and came across Cybla.com which claims to be Everything Cybiko. I hadn't tracked Cybikos lately, so I didn't realize how much downloadable software there is for them now, or how much they've been hacked. I hope the company's site is just down temporarily.
If you're not familiar with these handhelds for teens, they're an interesting cross between a Blackberry, PDA, and Gameboy. They seem to have a very devoted following, although I've never met someone who actually owns one. Besides me, that is. I got a Classic version for free off the Internet a couple of years ago during the great heyday of coupons and dot.com mania. The only thing I use it for is demos in my presentations, but I need to get to the store and play with the new Xtreme Cybiko.
11:21:35 PM Permanent link here
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Palm has released a List of Best-selling eBooks for 2001 The top fiction title is Dreamcatcher by Stephen King, and the top nonfiction title is The Procrastinator's Handbook. Palm says it sold almost 180,000 ebooks last year, although sales figures for each of the titles on this list would have been a more interesting figure to me. Still, they say this number is a 40% increase over the previous year's figures.
A lot of people tell me that ebooks on PDAs will never take off, and at first I was inclined to agree. These days I'm not so sure, though. You can download an ebook onto a Cybiko or a Gameboy, and who knows what kinds of magnification or voice technologies await us in the future. They won't replace the printed word, but I'm not willing to discount them out of hand, either.
11:10:53 PM Permanent link here
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Jump back... I'm on a roll! I like Sean Nolan's Link Feedback idea, so I've implemented it on the home page. As folks visit my site, you should start seeing the last 10 referring links appear on the right-hand side. Now I'll be the self-organizing shifted librarian!
Tangential relation alert: I've seen Stephen Johnson's book Emergence discussed in multiple places now, so I've added it to my list of "Books I Wish I Was Reading Right Now." Assuming, of course, I had time to read books.
9:18:14 PM Permanent link here
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Cool - I used YACCS to set up comments on my site. Disadvantages: it uses Javascript, so if you have that disabled, you won't be able to post comments, and it launches in a pop-up window. Advantages: I don't have to learn programming, you get to sound off on my ideas, and it's free. I think it's a decent trade-off, at least for now. Nice service, Hossein!
8:26:08 PM Permanent link here
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I know that some libraries give out gold-plated library cards to community legislators and the like, but I can't find any reference to a specific company that makes them. Anyone have a name, phone number, or link to a Web site? If you do, please send it to me. Thanks!
8:02:32 PM Permanent link here
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In case you haven't heard, record companies are starting to sell "copyright-protected" CDs that either don't play at all on a computer, or only play in certain programs. I mention this because as you buy CDs for your library, you'll probably purchase some of these unknowingly because many of them are not labeled for this. So any patrons that try to put the CD in their computer to listen to it may have problems and complain to you that the CD is bad.
If the CD works just fine in any other type of CD player, you may want to check it against the list of Corrupted CDs at Fat Chuck's. If it's listed here, the problem is most likely that the patron tried to play the CD on a PC.
4:09:11 PM Permanent link here
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I didn't start using instant messaging in earnest until last summer because I couldn't figure out why I'd need it. Now, it's been immensely helpful in keeping in contact with a consultant 1500 miles away. He graciously answers my "quick" questions, and I send him fun links.
If your library isn't experimenting with chat, even just internally, you should be. You need to learn what it's like to be on each end of this type of conversation. Not sure which chat client to try? CNET's IM Bonanza compares eight of the most popular products. Pretty much all of the people I know who IM (instant message) are on AOL's AIM, but I use Trillian so that I can talk to anyone.
4:03:17 PM Permanent link here
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© Copyright 2004 Jenny Levine.
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