BJORN THE LIBRARIAN

Fighting Librarians vs. The Patriot Act

The world needs librarians... here's just ONE reason why.

Check it out!

 

Game Crazy & Public Libraries

The John Steinbeck Library (Salinas, CA) offers gaming seven days a week. Our Young Adult lounge has a 52 inch LCD TV for games and movies. We are currently running the X-box 360 and Nintendo Wii gaming systems.

There are many challenges to running a gaming program every day of the week. One of the challenges is keeping the program fresh. You need new games and frequent contests!

Salinas Public Library does NOT have the the money to buy new games or the staff to run contests (these can be a real pain). This is why I decided to see if our local gaming store (Game Crazy) would like to help us out. I dropped by and spoke with the store manager.

He was stoked! He offered to let us borrow a new game every week. He also offered to do gaming tournaments at the library. They actually bring in their own equipment, lead the event and give out prizes. How great is this company!

I look forward to seeing how this new library partnership with Game Crazy plays out... I'll try to keep you posted.

P.S. Starting the gaming program at Salinas Public Library has been a learning experience. I am willing to share what I have learned. If you have specific questions please feel free to email me... bjornthelibrarian@gmail.com

 

Salinas Public Library @ CLA 2008

November 14 - 16 the California Library Association’s Annual Conference & Exhibition was held in San José, CA. Salinas Public Library represented all weekend in booth #714.

Our goal was to connect with conference attendees as they search for the best in products, services and technologies to prepare themselves and their workplaces for the future. We spoke with many California librarians who were interested in the present condition of the Salinas Library. We had one thing to say...

We are back!

Salinas Public Library survived its nationally publicized 2005 crisis. The community of Salinas rallied to save their library. Now our library is stronger than ever and is celebrating its centennial year.

We gave everyone who dropped by our booth the chance to take their photo with John Steinbeck (Salinas is John Steinbeck's hometown). This photo opportunity was made possible using a green screen and an Apple MacBook with Photo Booth software.

We took 115 photos and sent everyone who participated a copy of their photo via email. We also posted the photos taken at CLA on our Flickr page.

Check it out!

 

Internet Librarian Conference 2008

Internet Librarian 2008 was hosted this week in beautiful Monterey, California. Monterey is a quick 20 minutes south of where I work as a Librarian in Salinas. I managed to clear my schedule on Monday, Oct. 20th and spent a day the conference.

This decision turned out to be GREAT for several reasons…

1. The Weather. It was sunny and warm. This was a perfect day to be out of the office and hanging out in downtown Monterey.


2. Nancy Dowd is the Director of Marketing and Public Relations for New Jersey State Library. Her presentation was comprehensive and compelling. Nancy highlighted the importance of Library Marketing to GO GREEN, be AUTHENTIC, accept IMPERFECTIONS and use transformational STORIES. These are all uniquely important talking points worthy of their own blog articles (maybe next time).


3. The DOK boys. I spoke briefly with Erik Boekesteijn and Jaap van de Geer from DOK. In our four minute conversation we concluded that librarians are often too homogeneous. Our industry needs librarians from a wide variety of professional backgrounds in order to spark the risk-taking and innovative tendencies needed to change libraries for the future. Professional diversity is crucial to surviving (and surviving well) in our modern society.
   

The BEST idea that I received from attending the Internet Librarian 2008 Conference was from Nancy Dowd. She strongly suggested that libraries create a Story Bank. The Story Bank is a list of people whom the library has positively effected. This list includes the person’s name, an overview of the person’s story, contact information and if they are willing to share their story (a.k.a. be interviewed by a reporter).

Thanks to all the people I met and spoke with on Monday! You have inspired me...

 

Embed MP3 Audio Files Into Blogger

Always GOOD to try new things!

I wanted to figure out how to play mp3s on my Blog for FREE. Here are the steps I followed:

1) Picked a random mp3 from my iTunes.

2) Setup a Google Group of my own. I can upload 100 MB of total files to my Google group. Click on "Files" after clicking on Manage Group.

3) Went to Digital Inspiration and copied one of their audio player Flash scripts.

4) Stuck the code into the "Edit Html".

That's it!

 

Digital Arts Lab @ Salinas Public Library

Salinas Public Library has just renovated the John Steinbeck Library located in downtown Salinas, California. Changes included a NEW teen space and the addition of a Digital Arts Lab with Mac computers! This is an exciting addition to the Salinas community.


The New Digital Arts Lab includes:

• 4 Imacs (20" Display)
• 4 MacBooks (13" Display)
• 1 Mac Pro (23" Display)
• 1 Mac Server w/ 7 Tb memory

• Final Cut Studio
• Final Cut Express
  
• Adobe Photoshop CS3
• MS Office 2008
• iWork
• iLife
  

I have been give the privilege of helping the Salinas Public Library launch this NEW Digital Arts Lab. This task includes strategic planning, marketing, developing community partnerships, managing volunteers and creating, delivering and evaluating classes, events and programs.

And this is just the beginning!

As Library 2.0 advocate I will be incorporating MANY web-marketing and social networking technologies throughout my involvement with this Digital Arts Lab project.

Please Stay Tuned!

 

BJORN IS BACK (in the library)

Flickr Photo By Gullevek
I have returned form desert journeys and mountaintop discoveries... with NEW ink to display!

No really, this isn't a picture of me. However, I am serious about being back in public library service. I have accepted the exciting challenge of librarianship at Salinas Public library.

I have many responsibilities, so I'd like to sum them up HERE. This way I can easily check back and remind myself what I need to be doing.

Critical Tasks:

1) Ability to understand and successfully meet the library needs of internal (staff) and external customers (public).

2) Ability to effectively work individually and in teams to achieve organizational goals and objectives.

3) Ability to staff Information Desks (Adult & Children) as assigned.

4) Assist in the development, implementation and coordination of programs and services in areas of responsibility including children, young adult, adult or reference services.

5) Ability to understand customer needs and assist them to access popular and/or recreational reading.

6) Knowledge of library technology and Internet to perform librarian duties.

7) Knowledge of collection development's evaluation, selection, and maintenance.

8) Perform other duties as assigned, including monthly reports.

I know the tasks within these general categories will be keeping me busy over the next few months. I'll be posting periodically about specific jobs I'm working on.

So, stay tuned...