Not enough plugs

Denon AVR-5805 back
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

Yesterday I received my region-free DVD player from Japan. (I can now play DVDs created anywhere in the world.) The problem is, with the combination of the age of my receiver and the number of pieces of equipment now connected to it I'm running out of outlets. (In order to watch either my VCR or the new DVD player (I'm keeping the five-disc player hooked up since it also plays CDs) I have to turn on the DVD-R too, since it's what's accepting the input from the VCR and the new DVD player.) I think I've found a solution however. The Denon AVR-5805 (shown right) seems to have enough inputs to keep me covered for a while. The $6000 price tag is the only problem.

Those were the days

Flickr user matbergman has posted a collection of BBS-branded images. Check out state-of-the-art downloadable computer images from 1987 through 1992. (Some NSFW)

Job announcement

BCR Executive Director

Bibliographical Center for Research (BCR), located in Aurora, Colorado, seeks a dynamic and experienced executive director to head the library services network and to investigate, develop and coordinate BCR services to meet the needs of library members.

BCR is located in Aurora, Colorado. The position includes a pleasant working environment, excellent benefit package and is available July 1, 2006. The starting salary is negotiable from $102,000.

More information about BCR, including a complete description of this position, its requirements and how to apply is available at http://www.bcr.org/about/recruiting/.

For full consideration apply by March 27. Finalists will be interviewed in Aurora on May 15th and 16th by members of the BCR Board of Trustees and by BCR staff. EOE.

"Feedback" Marketing [update]

Last week I posted regarding an e-mail I received that I suspected was a creative new way to word spam. Well, it seems, as I thought I might be, that I was wrong. I've since been in further contact with the author of that e-mail (who wishes to remain anonymous) and must say that the original e-mail was not spam but an honest contact. I have since apologized for my skepticism and do so publicly again here.

Conference Blogging: An alternate view

I was talking with some of the other speakers at Saturday's Spotlight on Your Career mini-conference when the concept of blogging conference presentations came up. One of the other speakers mentioned that she didn't like people blogging her presentations. When asked why, she gave the following two reasons:

1. Many time her presentations deal with the "latest tips and tricks" on her subject. Having someone transcribe them onto the blog creates an archive of the presentation. Since her presentation is rarely the same twice, she doesn't want anyone finding outdated information online.
2. She felt that if enough bloggers posted the information from the conference this might lead to reduced attendance since potential attendees might feel that since the information will be blogged, there isn't as much of an incentive to attend the conference.

My inital response was that on the first item, maybe she had a point. She is also an independent so she's giving these presentations to make money for herself and her business, not just for professional development and some extra cash.

On the second point I'm more hesitant to agree with her. As a conference blogger I feel I'm giving those that couldn't attend the conference a window on the events I attend. I'm not so sure that anyone has ever said, "Well, since there'll be bloggers there, I don't need to attend." Maybe in the future this will happen but I doubt that it will happen enough to noticeably reduce the number of attendees at a conference.

Anyone else want to chime in on this one and share their opinion?

Doctor Who on SciFi.com

The Doctor Who page is finally up at SciFi.com. I also saw some commercials during Battlestar Galactica on Friday night. (They were oddly edited however...)

Boot XP from a jump drive

According to this article you can create "a self-contained version of XP -- that can fit on, boot from, and run on a modest 256MB USB thumb drive!" Next time I find a cheap one, I'm going to give this a try. If you try it before I do, I'd love to get a report of your results.

What did he say?

Albert's happy for Michael too!
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

Yes, you too can control what Einstein wrote on his chalkboard at Hetemeel.com.

Ring... "Hello, IT. Did you turn it off and on?"

Ever worked in an IT department? Know anyone who does? Just find "computer people" a little bit odd? If you answered yes to any of these questions you need to be watching the Brit-com The IT Crowd. As I understand it, the show is not being broadcast but being shown online in a DRM'd format available only in the UK. However, it seems to be poorly implemented DRM, and so far the first five episodes have been liberated and are available via Bittorrent. (If you don't know what Bittorrent is, check out the Wikipedia article. My client of choice is Azureus.) This show is just too damn funny to miss!

Searching For Wikis

Looking for a wiki on a particular topic? Check out Qwika which is a "search engine designed specifically to search wikis. Our aims are to cover all sizeable wikis in all sizeable languages, translate them, make them easily findable in the shortest possible time."

Virtual flight screensaver

Holding Pattern screensaver
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

It's been a while since I've been on a plane and I'm surprisingly finding myself missing it a bit. So, I've installed the Holding Pattern Screensaver. According to the site, the virtual flight does have a destination though I'm not sure I'm willing to watch it long enough to find out where that is.

Not library 2.0 (again)

Before
Originally uploaded by kokeshi.

Here's a wonderful note at a school library. Check out the "after" photo to see what someone did to it.

Web Law

Web Law
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

I'll be reviewing this for Colorado Libraries. 300 words on a 448 page book (mostly detailing relevant court decisions) by May 1st. I'm starting to remember why I decided against law school.

"Feedback" Marketing

I received this e-mail via the contact form on my blog yesterday:

I enjoy attending your workshops, am a regular visitor (read: fan) of your website, its always fresh, often humorous & always informative! Keep it up! Next time you visit KC, check out the "[name removed] Bar" for great food, music, service & atmosphere.

[URL removed]

Now really, does the person who left this but of feedback expect me to believe that they're really someone who's met me, even virtually? I'll admit maybe I'm wrong (please correct me if I am) but I find that very unlikely. I will give them point for creativity though.

Please read this important follow-up post.

Borders Rewards

Here's this weekend's Borders coupon for 30% off one item but only if you join their new Borders Rewards program. It's free which automatically makes it better than the Barnes & Noble program. If you don't join you can you the 15% off coupon on the same page.

The worms are coming!

No more subscriptions

No more subscriptions, College of Alameda Library
Originally uploaded by gwen.

This is just sad.

"too long"

The Registrar of frickin' Copyrights thinks Congress is full of it! Here's the video.

A Scanner Darkly

A Scanner Darkly
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

The trailer for this Philip K. Dick thriller is now available.

Gonna Be Some Changes Made

Last week I mentioned that something would be happening and, as expected it did. It's taken me the last seven days to absorb it and, although the full repercussions will not happen for a little while, I'm comfortable enough with it to start blogging about it.

On Tuesday, February 14th I was officially appointed the new bookstore manager for the Friends of the Aurora Public Library. I've been on the board for the past five years as the publicist and Web master and seeing as I have 10+ years of bookstore experience, I always had an opinion on how the bookstore was run. (Not that the rest of the board always like my opinions mind you.) When the previous manager retired this past November, it was up to the board president to appoint someone to the new position. She asked, and after much consideration, and a deep look at the amount of free time I already don't have, I decided to accept.

So far, the rest of the board and volunteers seem to be o.k. with my appointment but some are still leary since they know that I'll be making changes to how the place is run. The central problem is that I'm looking at the organization (how to make it better so we can better send funds to the library) and not so much at the individuals or their inter-personal relationships.

How will this all go down in the long run, well, worst that can happen is that I try, fail, and both the president and I are replaced at the end of the year. Best case scenario, the store goes from being open 2.5 days a week and making about $30K per year for the library to 5 days a week and making $100k. I'm willing to give it a try.

The Blogga Song

Well, I didn't make it into the lyrics but it's still a funny song about the biblioblogosphere. (Blake!)

Homeland security now policing porn

Luckily the librarian kept a cool head when dealing with this situation...

"Two uniformed men strolled into the main room of the Little Falls library in Bethesda one day last week and demanded the attention of all patrons using the computers. Then they made their announcement: The viewing of Internet pornography was forbidden."

The rest of the story.

blurred bookshelf

blurred bookshelf
Originally uploaded by *c.

I can name seven of the eight books in the picture. How well can you do?

Computers in Libraries 2006

Yes, I will be attending CIL06 this year in Washington, DC (March 22-25). I'm ariving on Wednesday afternoon, attending the sessions on Thursday and Friday, presenting a post-conference workshop on Saturday morning and flying home Saturday evening. Here's the official description of my workshop:

Integrating RSS into Your Web Site
Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Michael Sauers, Internet Trainer, BCR
RSS feeds are an excellent way to receive information from the Internet today. What many people don't know is that you can receive that information and easily repurpose and republish it on your Web site with little technical knowhow. Imagine automatically posting up-to-date local or industry headlines on your library’s home page. This is what you can do in just a few simple steps. Our expert Internet trainer shows you how to do just this.

I'll also be covering some RSS basics including using an aggregator and creating RSS feeds using free tools along with other more advanced topics such as FeedBurner and Feed2Podcast.

For more information on what the workshop will cover check out my del.icio.us account under the cil06 tag. (A special thanks to Michael Stephens for helping me wrap my head around the workshop's topic.)

If you'll be attending (or not) be sure to check out Meredith's conference wiki. I'm also assuming the the flickr tag will be CIL2006 since last year it was CIL2005.

Social Networking

Not sure what Friendster or My Space is? Demetri Martin of The Daily Show explains it all.

Request for help from del.icio.us users

I'm woring on my next book and currently writing the chapter on del.icio.us. What I need is for some folks to send me some links using the for: tag. Just pick a few of your bookmarks (nothing offensive please, I'll be including a screenshot) and tag them with "for:travelinlibrarian". (Doing me this favor will earn you some karma points and you'll even get your name listed in the acknowledgements.) TIA!

"B-list"

Chris Zammarelli has pronounced me a "B-list" blogger. All I need now are a guy and a couple of robots to add a running commentary to my posts.

Borders Coupon

Here's this week's coupong for 20% Off the Regular Price of One Book at Borders. There's also a coupon for 20% off one kids' book on the page.

Tip for Remembering your Hotel Room Number

Here's a spectacular tip from inFlightHQ:

"When you go to your hotel room for the first time (or leave it for the first time,) take a picture of your room number with your cell phone."

Many a Vista

Microsoft has officially announced the list of "editions" of Windows Vista. There are going to be eight to choose from. (And you thought three versions of XP were two too many...)

Why Publishing Should Send Fruit-Baskets to Google

Cory Doctorow weighs in on Google Book Search. Here's the first paragraph.

"Google's new Book Search promises to save writers' and publishers' asses by putting their books into the index of works that are visible to searchers who get all their information from the Internet. In response, publishers and writers are suing Google, claiming that this ass-saving is in fact a copyright violation. When you look a little closer, though, you see that the writer/publisher objections to Google amount to nothing more than rent-seeking: an attempt to use legal threats to milk Google for some of the money it will make by providing this vital service to us ink-stained scribblers."

Cory is the author that makes the complete text of all of his books available for free on his Web site as well as publishing them in print.

Bill makes a funny

Here's a clip of Bill Gates taking a "shot" at Dick Cheney.

True Love or Blue Love?

I'm a day late in posting this but this post from the blog at Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library once again proves they're diong it right: providing services to all patrons.

R.I.P Web Panache

Today I officially cancelled my old webpan.com account. So, any bookmarks that pointed to http://www.webpan.com/msauers/ and any e-mail send to msauers@webpan.com will no longer work.

Happy Valen...

gugle?

gugle?
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

I'm sorry, but this olympic-themed version of the Google logo hardly looks like "oo" in the appropriate place.

Seek And Ex-Termi-nate!

Seek And Ex-Termi-nate!
Originally uploaded by Kaptain Kobold.

I Lego Dalek! Ah, to have all the necessary parts...

Vault Radio

Here's an NPR story about Vault Radio an online radio station of live recordings from the collection of legandary concert promoter Bill Graham. (The NPR page includes a link to the station.)

Vault Radio is now playing selected tracks from these concerts in an FM-quality, 128K digital radio stream. Songs will be added to and removed from the radio show on a regular basis. We will be broadcasting unaltered live performance music from many of the greatest bands of the last 40 years. The music you hear on Vault Radio has not been sweetened or polished. You'll be listening to what the band played that night - nothing more, nothing less.

Death by risk-aversion

Just a day before my role in one of the organization goes through a significant change (more on that tomorrow) Library Web Chic posts about Death by risk-aversion. Considering what I'm going through with the aforementioned organization, this was exactly the right timing for me and this article. Thanks!

Panexa (Acidachrome Promanganate)

Think you might need some medication? Check out Panexa.
Thanks Rosario

Should I feel guilty?

sign of the times
Originally uploaded by Box and Arrow.

I do this all the time, making note of ISBNs for later online lookup. Should I feel guilty for that? Should I not because I'm usually doing it in a Barnes & Noble or Borders? Should I if I'm doing it while in a small independent bookstore? On another note, saying "ISBN number" is like saying "ATM machine", it's redundant! (It's like saying "international standard book number number".)

Sony Root Kit settlement info

Got this in my e-mail today.

***IMPORTANT LEGAL NOTICE/SOFTWARE UPDATE NOTICE***PLEASE READ*** (Please do not respond to this email. Responses will not be read.) If You Bought, Received or Used a SONY BMG Music Entertainment CD Containing Either XCP or Media Max Content Protection Software, Your Rights May Be Affected By a Class Action Settlement, And You Should Download Updates For That Software. What is this about? A settlement has been proposed in a lawsuit brought against SONY BMG Music Entertainment, Inc., SunnComm International Inc., and First 4 Internet, Ltd. ("Defendants"). The lawsuit, In re SONY BMG CD Technologies Litigation, Case No. 1:05-cv-09575-NRB, is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and relates to XCP and MediaMax content protection software installed on certain SONY BMG music CDs. The Settlement resolves claims that the Defendants manufactured and sold CDs containing XCP and MediaMax software without adequately disclosing the limitations the software imposes on the use of the CDs and the security vulnerabilities it creates. The Defendants have denied that they did anything wrong. Who Is Included, And What Does The Settlement Provide? The settlement provides relief for persons who bought, received or used SONY BMG CDs with either XCP or MediaMax software. Under the settlement, any person in possession of an XCP CD can exchange it for a replacement CD, an MP3 download of the same album, and either (a) cash payment of $7.50 and one (1) free album download from a list of 200 albums, or (b) three (3) free album downloads from that list. Purchasers of CDs containing MediaMax 5.0 software will receive a free MP3 download of the same album and one (1) additional free album download. Purchasers of CDs containing MediaMax 3.0 software will receive a free MP3 download of the same album. The settlement also requires the Defendants to stop manufacturing SONY BMG CDs with XCP or MediaMax 3.0 and 5.0 software and, until 2008: (1) make available updates to fix all known security vulnerabilities caused by XCP and MediaMax software; (2) provide software programs to uninstall XCP and MediaMax software safely; (3) fix any future security vulnerabilities discovered in MediaMax and any other content protection software placed on SONY BMG CDs; (4) provide independent verification that personal information about users of SONY BMG CDs has not and will not be collected through XCP or MediaMax; (5) waive certain provisions of the end user license agreements for XCP and MediaMax software; and (6) ensure that any other content protection software will be clearly disclosed, independently tested and readily uninstalled. At 9:15a.m. on May 22, 2006, the Court will hold a hearing at the United States District Court, Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, Courtroom 21A, New York, New York 10007-1312, to decide whether to approve the settlement and the class attorneys' fees and costs. How Do I Participate In The Settlement? If you bought or received a SONY BMG Music CD containing XCP or MediaMax software and want to receive the relief you may be eligible for under the settlement, you must submit an online claim form at www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com, or mail a claim form to: SONY BMG CD Technologies Settlement P.O. Box 1804, Faribault, MN 55021-1804 All claim forms must be submitted by December 31, 2006. What Are My Other Options? If you bought, received or used a SONY BMG Music CD containing XCP or MediaMax software, and you do not want to be legally bound by the settlement or receive a replacement CD, cash, free downloads or other relief, you must exclude yourself by May 1, 2006. If you do not exclude yourself, certain of your claims against the Defendants that were or could have been asserted in the lawsuit will be released, meaning you may not be able to sue the Defendants for those claims. To view the detailed legal Notice of Proposed Class Action Settlement, Motion for Attorneys' Fees and Settlement Fairness Hearing and to download the software updates, visit www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com. You may obtain further information by contacting the claims administrator at the address above or by calling toll free 1-800-242-7610.

IE7b2

IE7b2 Home Page
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

The first public beta of Internet Explorer 7 has been released for downloading and installation. I've installed it and posted screenshots of the process and the results in my flickr account.

One word of warning. This does overwrite any existing vesion of IE already on your computer so please only install if you're comfortable with beta software.

Funny Spam

This one's just too funny not to post...

Everybody knows the great sexual scandal known as "Klinton-Levinsky".
After the relations like this Klintons popularity raised a lot!
It is a natural phenomenon, because Bill as a real man in order not to shame himself when he was with Monica regularly used Voagra.
What happened you see. His political figure became more bright and more attractive.
 It is very important for a man to be respected as a man!

See our Voagra shop to enter upon the new phase of your life.

Naughty, naughty Cascada in the library

LISNews has a link to a video by Cascada which takes place in a library. Why isn't any library I've ever worked in like this?

Bush went and did it...

It's now law. Analog TV will stop broadcasting on February 17, 2009

Borders coupon

25% Off the Regular Price of One Book good through 12 February 2006.

Ice storm photos

I've been through two ice storms but nothing like this one in Geneva City, Switzerland.

Digitizing the library

This video shows University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman explaining to the Association of American Publishers why her university is a partner with Google Print Library Project. (9 minutes 24 seconds, Feb 7, 2006 11:13:00 AM)

The Clinton Library

The Clinton Library Building, Little Rock, Arkansas
Originally uploaded by hanneorla.

These may not be the first but this is a great set of photos of the new Clinton library in Little Rock, AR.

What if...

Fight Club was released as a romantic commedy? Watch this remixed trailer to find out.

Free Themed Fonts

Ever wanted to write some text in the font of your favorite band, movie or TV show? Here's a list of over 300 free fonts from such sources as Alias, Battlestar Galactica, and Def Leppard.

Family sues after creative writing assignment lands teen in psych ward

I read some pretty out there, gross-out authors like Edward Lee and Ray Garton. Luckily they started writing back when there was some sanity in the world. Read what happened to this kid when he started writing stories that his teachers didn't like.

What's wrong with this picture?

DSC03376
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

I'll give you one hint: this is on a Microsoft PowerPoint slide.

Bucket of Blood St

Bucket of Blood St
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

Thanks L!

A question about library cards

I received this question the other day and I have a guess but not an answer. Can anyone help? If so, please post it as a comment. Thanks.

I have a random, totally irrelevant question that I think you would be the perfect person to answer. I was looking through my library card collection (I have about 8), and I noticed that all the card numbers start with the number 2. I was wondering if you could look through your collection (which is much larger than mine) and see if you notice the same trend. I was also wondering if you have any information as to why this is so. --Bud

(My guess is that it has something to do with the company that the cards/barcodes come from. Many of mine start with a "2" but others start with a "4" and cards from the Denver Public Library start with a "D".

State of CO uses state-wide virtual reference

FOR RELEASE: CONTACT: Dan Hopkins 303-866-6324 Mark Salley 303-866-6323 Rich Olsen 720-323-0052

OWENS ANNOUNCES AVAILBILITY OF REAL-TIME CUSTOMER SERVICE AT “COLORADO.GOV”

“Live Help” available 24/7 at state website

(DENVER) - Real-time online service is now a part of the state of Colorado website, Gov. Bill Owens announced today.

“Live Help provides instant customer assistance when you visit the state website searching for government services or resources,” Owens said. “This sort of help is available on just a handful of state websites around the country. Colorado has taken a lead in providing live on-line assistance”

Live Help is available on the state website, www.colorado.gov, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except on major holidays.

From the state homepage, visitors may click on the Live Help icon to reach a member of the Colorado.gov customer service staff or a librarian located in Colorado.

Representatives help citizens find the information or services they are seeking, often by recommending online government services. The representatives also can lead a citizen to the government Web page they need by automatically directing the user’s Web browser to that page. The user has the option to receive a transcript of the online help session sent to their e-mail address.

“Live help is a tool that librarians have used with great success for several years,” said Eugene Hainer, Director of the Colorado State Library, Department of Education, “We are pleased to partner with Colorado.gov to make this tool available to everyone that visits the official state Web site.”

The Live Help service is delivered through a unique collaboration between Colorado.gov, Ask Colorado, and the Statewide Internet Portal Authority, which was formed in 2004 to oversee the success of Colorado.gov. Ask Colorado is a collaborative effort of 61 libraries from around the state.

About Colorado.gov

Colorado.gov is the official Web site of the state of Colorado (www.Colorado.gov) and a collaborative effort between the Statewide Internet Portal Authority (SIPA) and Colorado Interactive to help Colorado government entities Web-enable their information services. SIPA is responsible for Colorado.gov. Colorado Interactive, a Denver based subsidiary of eGovernment firm NIC (EGOV) markets, operates and maintains Colorado.gov.

About SIPA

The Statewide Internet Portal Authority was created in 2004 by the Colorado legislature and is a state Authority governed by an 11-member Board of Directors consisting of business persons and state and county representatives. The mission of SIPA is to make Colorado government at all levels more accessible to its citizens and businesses and more productive through the use of eBusiness technologies.

About NIC

NIC manages more eGovernment services than any provider in the world. The company helps government communicate more effectively with citizens and businesses by putting essential services online. NIC provides eGovernment solutions for 2,000 state and local agencies that serve more than 60 million people in the United States. Additional information is available at www.nicusa.com.

SIPA Don Ravenscroft, 303.542.1803 portalauthority@state.co.us

Colorado Interactive Rich Olsen, 720-323-0052 rich@coloradointeractive.org

Unshelved

Today's strip has Dewey attempting to get some prep time for a presentation.

Flickr 101 presentation available

BCR’s free webinar “flickr 101” is now available as a recorded session. The recording is one hour long.

To access the recording, do the following:

1) If you have not viewed or attended a BCR webinar, you must run the wizard found at the following url: http://208.185.32.63/wizard/launcher.cgi?wc=qt

This will ensure that your computer is set up for viewing the slides and listening to the audio portion. The audio portion requires that you have speakers or headphones connected to your computer.

2) Once you've run the wizard, follow this link: http://208.185.32.63/launcher.cgi?room=BCR_Training_2006_0203_1201_31

3) Login with the following information: Room ID: BCR_Training Participant: your name (or leave blank)

The recording should start automatically once you click on “enter”.

If you have any questions about the presentation itself and the information in it, contact msauers@bcr.org. Thanks.

flickr 101

The Making of Space: 1999 by Tim Heald Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

This is an example of blogging from flickr I'm showing in my online flickr 101 Web session.

pbwiki

If you're interested in finding a wiki you can experiment with that involves no cost or software installation be sure to check out pbwiki. Their list of NewFeatures is being updated on a weekly basis. (pbwiki is the one I recommend in my Intro to Wikis class.)

Colorado Association of Libraries

CAL also put out it's call for presentations yesterday.

Internet Librarian 2006

The Call for Speakers was released yesterday.

The Daily Show takes on Google in China

The Daily Show takes on Google in China
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

John also takes on trying to get Katrina records out of the White House and the recent meetup of James Frey and Oprah in this clip from The Daily Show

Hi Bill

Hi Bill
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

Check out this video of Keith Olbermann roasting Bill O'Reilly to a crisp.

Firefox 1.5.0.1

Firefox 1.5.0.1
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

Hey look! Firefox 1.5 now has automatic update notification (more than that little icon) when there's an update to the program itself. The fact that this is a .X.0.1 update is just taking software numbering to an extreme.

Borders Coupons good through 02/05

• 20% Off the Regular Price of One Book
• 20% Off the Regular Price of One Kids Book
• 20% Off the Regular Price of One DVD