On measuring library value

I have been reflecting on some of the methods I have used in library and information services in the past to measure and report on success.
At a former workplace, we used software to measure online useage statistics and hit rates.  From memory, it wasn’t sophisticated software but gave basic information. The library was consistently in the [...]

On information research

The latest issue of the e-journal, Information Research, is now available.
There are some really interesting papers, especially the paper by Marcia Bates on browsing behaviour and the paper by Judit Bar-Ilan on librarian blogs.
There are several book reviews too, including this one on David Weinberger’s book, Everything is miscellaneous (a book I am currently reading).
 All [...]

On tagging (2)

I previously made some comments about tagging. I believe tagging has its place as does controlled vocabularies. John Udell’s blog post yesterday on tagging and foldering made the point that: “On the desktop as well as on the web, we’re in the midst of a long transition from container-based to query-based storage and retrieval”.
In container-based storage one [...]

On tagging

I have been giving some attention of late to tagging, partly because of some research I am doing for university, and partly in response to a challenge Matt Moore gave me a while back to start putting some of my photos up on Flickr.
A key feature of Flickr is tagging, but tagging has become much more [...]

On taxonomies

Patrick Lambe presented this evening on taxonomies at the NSW KM Forum in Sydney - not sure if the slides will be available or not (I will need to check later with Patrick or James).
Firstly, Patrick should be congratulated for making a potentially dry topic most interesting and informative. Of note was Patrick’s “Map of Findability” [...]

On audio slideshows

Rob Galbraith’s website  had a recent news item about audio slideshows and how they are being used by newspapers on their websites. Galbraith’s cited example is from the Miami Herald. Even our own Sydney Morning Herald has an audio slideshow of the recent Panamax ship stranded on the beach at Newcastle.
The audio slideshow is simply a combination [...]

On librarians as knowledge managers

I had a fruitful discussion a short while ago about librarians and web 2.0, and research and knowledge management. In the same vein, a recent post from Dave Pollard with a link to his presentation on “librarians as knowledge managers” posits some interesting thoughts. Pollard presented at the recent Special Libraries Association conference in Denver, Colorade, USA. In the [...]

On oral history and storytelling

My interest in oral history has been rekindled of late for a couple of reasons. Firstly, my father turns 82 later this year. I have always enjoyed listening to his stories about growing up on the farm in rural NSW, his entry into the airforce at age seventeen, his exploits up in Cooktown and the Jardine River [...]

On bits and pieces

No real theme today other than some bits and pieces…

 A favourite of mine - Internal corporate blogging - why the fear?
And another … Podcast to your employees
A nice article on Web 2.0 applications and implications for libraries
A conference alert for Learn X Asia Pacific 2007 - e-learning and training conference in Sydney on 26-27 July
A conference [...]

On libraries and Web 2.0

I have been having an interesting online (see earlier post) and offline exchange regarding the state of libraries in the Web 2.0 world. Wired ran an article earlier this year on libraries and Web 2.0 that covered the training and awareness aspect of librarianship:
“The last thing we want is for people to come into our libraries and ask about [...]

On libraries

I came across Matt’s musings on libraries. The upshot of his story is that libraries are still living in an enterprise 1.0 world. He cites the fact that one has to physically go to a library, that the collection is basically hard copy (and even the hard copy is not reliable since items may be [...]