CO House Update

Well, I was supposed to close the sale of my house in Colorado today. I signed all the paperwork on Thursday morning and overnighted it back to Denver. On Saturday morning by agent called me with bad news. It turns out that the buyer (for the second time) failed to get his loan. What happened this time? Seems that he got a $5k bonus last year and his employer reported the "income" on a 1099 instead of a W-2 and therefore the underwriter decided that the $5k no longer counted as "income" that would allow him to get his loan. So, once again, but he and I are screwed out of the sale. (Kudos to my agent. She keeps having to do more work to sell a house for which the price keeps going down earning her less money.)

303 no more

BTW: My Colorado cellphone number will be deactivated sometime tomorrow. If you need, but don't yet have my new Lincoln, NE phone number be sure to drop me an e-mail.

Twin Lakes, CO

After several attempts, one of my photos of Twin Lakes, CO was finally deemed worth of acceptance into the Wallpaper Web site InterfaceLIFT. Check it out. There are 13 different resolutions available ranging from 2560x1600 to one small enough for your iPod.

CAL2006: Geek Fest 2006: What's Cool and What's a Good Investment

Jo Haight Sarline, Denver Public Library Carson Block, Fort Collins Public Library John Sulshaw, University of Colorado-Boulder Jimmy Thomas & Susan Staples, Weld Library District Jeff Donlan, Salida Regional Library Sharon Morris, Colorado State Library

• Susan
• 1st year w/ library system
• previously in manufacturing and healthcare
• invest in the virtual
• how much can be put online?
• online collaboration
• online training
• online surveys
• translation services
• 170+ lanugages
• dial a number and get an interperter online
• <$100/mo
• Concact center concept
• easy, catchy phone number
• metrics
• Hot
• Copier/Espresso maker
• USB cooler shirt
• ID rings
• DVD vending
• bestseller vending ouside the library
• John
• mobile computing
• new content & content management models
• supporting users in an advanced age of technology
• authentication
• portals
• blogs & wikis
• increased collaboration
• social networking
• blogs
• wikis
• podcasts
• MySpace
• 84 million users
• 2 million new users a month
• 48mil unique visits
• 51% of 13-17 year olds online
• 79% are 18+
• 25mil are over 30
• YouTube
• Google paid $1.65 Billion
• 100 mil videos watched a day
• 65k uploaded a day
• What's going to become of the ILS?
• Disintergaration (Marshal Breeding)
• Institutional repositories
• Libraries need to support all this stuff
• security issues
• open source model moving to libraries
• programming skills
• Jimmy
• (Aquabrowser)
• OCLC Perceptions Report
• Searches done at his member libraries (top queries in OPACs)
• Google, Yahoo
• My Account, Library Hours
• Library Journal Hotline
• The next library building
• "place"
• Jeff
• Maximize use of the OPAC
• Clean up our database
• Having functional PCs for the patrons
• Firefox
• GIMP
• Open Office
• Picassa
• Let patrons plug in their hardware
• E-media market needs to be "better sorted out"
• Skype
• Carson
• Building a staff that represent different parts of my brain but can also built on that
• Deliver information to people without barriers
• Be more involved in the culture
• Second Life Library 2.0
• Balancing abilities and constraints of what staff can do to meet the needs of users
• Technology is not always the solution
• Sharon
• Dutch Aquabrowser guys are "hot"
• Library Elf
• Plinket
• The Engaged Patron
• LibraryThing
• Free online e-books and e-audiobooks
• Second Life Library 2.0
• Searching for information is changing
• Retrevr
• Search fickr by shape & color
• Aquabrowser
• del.icio.us
• wikis
• blogs
• podcasting
• YouTube
• set aside time every week to look at something new
• libraries have a "role to inspire"
• Jo
• Be the enabler for your cusomers
• be there, be in those spaces
• you feel comfortable, they'll feel comfortable
• downloadable media
• convergence of everything
• everyone is a creator
• create a space where your patrons can be a creator
• tagging content
• no geographical boundaries
• look outside the library world for ideas and solutions
• be where your customers are complainaing about you
• thisisbroken.com
• viral marketing
• YouTube
• gaming

CAL2006: Keeping Current with Technology: How Popular Trends in Technology Can (and Should) be Put to Use in Your Library

Steve Lawson, Colorado College & Emilee Satterwhite, Mesa County Public Library

• http://keepingcurrent.pbwiki.com/
• Blogs
• Website that displays postings in reverse chroological order...
• How are blogs useful for librarians
• professional development
• keep current
• get ideas for the library
• generate discussion
• How do you find the time to read them all?
• use and aggregator such as Bloglines
• How are blogs useful for libraries
• Blogging Libraries Wiki
• communicate between libraries and users
• internal communication
• readers' advisory
• don't let the possible problems keep you from doing it
• How do Emilie and Steve use blogs?
• Blogger
• mcpldteens.blogspot.com
• librarianslove.blogspot.com
• bookleggerlibrarian.blogspot.com
• Moveable Type
• library.coloradocollege.edu/bookends
• /colospgslibs
• /program
• /steve
• /news
• Wikis
• What is a wiki?
• Web page any one can edit
• new pages and links created automatically
• HTML knowledge not necessary
• collaborative
• revision history
• Wikipedia
• the site librarians love to hate
• or is it hate to love
• an encyclopedia can edit
• Wikis for keeping current
• Library Success
• LISWiki
• IRead Wiki
• Library Instruction Wiki
• futurelib
• Blogging Libraries Wiki
• A wiki at your Library
• Michael Sauers on "blogorwiki"
• Intranets
• Conference planning
• Subject guides
• Colloborative space
• Committee space
• Community Wikis
• Setting up your Wiki
• Choose software
• wiki farms
• wiki software
• WikiMatrix
• give it some structure
• set people loose
• Feeds
• What is the point
• keep up with blogs, news, weather, etc.
• need a feed reader
• RSS or Atom
• different flavors of the same thing
• Consume Feeds
• Online readers
• bloglines
• google reader
• stand-along readers
• NetNewsWire Lite
• Sharp Reader
• Find Feeds
• Look for the icon
• Other
• Library Elf
• Package Tracking
• Photos
• wiki changes
• legislation
• weather
• Convey Feeds
• Publish info via feeds
• Examples on presentation wiki
• Create Feeds
• Run blog through FeedBurner
• Generate out fo your courseware
• Out of your ILS
• Podcasting
• What is podcasting
• audio blogging via feeds
• why should we be podcasting
• outreach
• patrons may already be confortable with listening to them
• how are libraries currently podcasting
• book reviews
• poetry
• storytime
• adult news & reviews
• video podcasts
• events
• how to find or listen
• iTunes
• Juice
• podcast search engines
• what equipment/software is needed
• recording software
• microphone
• odeo studio (online hosting)
• basic procedure
• igure out what you're going to say
• say/record
• publish

CAL2006: The Power and Perils of Google Scholar

Sue Byerley and Rita Hug, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs

• http://scholar.google.com/
• No one in the audience few they were confortable with GS
• Academics constantly trying to focus on the paid, high-qulaity databases
• GS started late 2004
• Focuses on scholarly material on the Web
• Not clear on how comprehensive GS is
• no source list
• studies have been done
• GS strong in sciences and medicine
• weaker in social sciences
• constantly improving
• lags behind prop databases on currency
• still contains significant number of links to non-scholarly material
• UCCS doing this
• "The breadth and Depth of Google Scholar" [June 2006 article]
• "Cited by" feature
• Libs can integrate their full-text resources via link resolvers
• Demo of diff between Google and GS using "hurricane katrina"
• Google: 6.5mil results
• GS: 3750 results
• Results screen
• all articles
• recent articles
• cited by
• links to local full text if available
• related articles
• abstract link variations
• Web search on related information for particular article
• BL Direct (British Library)
• Perils
• No source list
• Not as current
• Poor treatment of "popular" newspapers
• Not as strong in the humanities
• Some results are hard to decipher / hard to tell what they are
• Strange results
• search on "google scholar"
• 1st result is from 1992
• first good result is about 10 screens down
• Most of the results are links back to GS in other databases
• Can't do much with the results
• no sorting options
• no subject headings
• no native "send results"
• When to use GS vs. prop databases
• it depends
• what databases do you have
• how much full text you have to back up GS
• Good for interdisciplinary topics
• Has elements of a federated search engine
• Check out "Scholar Preferences"
• Integrate with a third-party citation management program

CAL2006: Friday Keynote

John Naisbitt

• Used to live in Teluride so feels at home in Colorado
• Honorary docotorate from the University of Denver
• Anti-PowerPoint format [applause]
• "Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely"
• Wife Dorris was his German language publisher
• Better than most author/publisher relationships
• Reason for living in Vienna for the past seven years
• New book published last month
• Mind Set!
• Metaphor from The Little Prince
• Shillouette of a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant
• adults think it's a hat
• redrawn to show the elephant
• What is really going on?
• See the future as a picture puzzle
• find one piece and see if there are other complementary pieces
• put the pieces together to see a new picture
• A visual culture is taking over the world
• slow death of the newpaper culture
• advertising: back to picture narrative
• Erricson had better technology
• Nokia had better design
• upscale design of common goods
• architecure as visual icon
• decline of the novel
• Don't fall into the sequence trap
• sequence is not how the future or history works
• sequence is the enemy of connections
• Have a computer and a poet in every classroom
• at least metaphorically on the poet side
• Focus on the score of the game
• read the newspaper back to front
• sports in the back
• best and most reliable reporting in the sports section
• 100% accuracy
• as you move to the front, confidence in the accuracy goes down
• newspapers are the first draft of history
• constantly used as primary source materials
• read them as if they're 100 years old
• not intersted in opinion
• interested in events & facts
• USA Today has the "box scores" of what's going on in the country
• Media: distortion through magnification
• the world has rarely been more peaceful than today
• compared to since 1945
• wouldn't know it by watching television
• # of armed conflicts has fallen 40% since the fall of communisim
• wars are fewer but we see much more of them
• Don't get so far ahead of the parade that people don't know you're in it
• This past election day...
• leader so far out ahead that he was no longer with the group
• looking at the future: what's just out in front, not so far out
• AT&T introduced the picturephone in 1939
• You don't get results by solving problems but by seeking opportunities
• Opportunity seekers vs. problem solvers
• India's IT sector as a result of Y2K
• Hillary Clinton is a great problem solver
• Healthcare
• Schwarzenegger is a great opportunity seeker
• Became governor on the recall of Gray Davis
• Problem solver: fix the post office
• Opportunity seeker: Start FedEx (Fred Smith)
• Europe needs an opportunity seeker
• Two hearts, 25 mind sets
• It's not a borderless world
• Physical borders are geeting stronger
• Economics is becoming borderless
• People are concerend about preserving their cultural identity
• The periphery is the center
• China is dencentralizing
• China has 166 cities with 100 million or more
• Privinces are building international airports
• Might overtake the US economically "next Tuesday"
• Not going to happen that soon
• Big gap between US & China GDP
• Understanding how powerful it is not to have to be right!
• people who have to be right are run by needing to be right
• political parties have institutalize this
• shuts out learning and intellectual growth to have to always be right
• Einstein was far from sure about what he was doing

Q&A period

CAL2006 Conference

Friday and Saturday I'll be attending the Colorado Association of Libraries (CAL) 2006 conference here in Denver, CO. I'll be of course posting to my blog about it as much as I can. Additionally:

• I will be presenting my Tech Terms session on Saturday @ 2pm. At this point I don't know what room I'll be presenting in. (Heather Clark of BCR and Steve Lawson of Colorado College will be performing a special introduction to my presentation. This is something you're not going to want to miss.)
• My latest book Blogging and RSS: A Librarian's Guide will be available for purchase at the BCR booth at a conference discounted price of only $24.00. (Cash and checks only.)
• At 3pm on Saturday during the ice cream social I will be signing my book at the BCR booth.
• At CAL's request I've set up a conference wiki on which will be posted conference updates and session reviews during the conference. Be sure to check it out if you're not attending the conference.
• Yesterday I worked with the folks running the conference to standardize on the tag "cal2006" when it comes to posting flickr photos and blogging. So, if you're looking for photos or other blog posts just search on that tag.

I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone at the conference so be sure to find me and say hi.

Fall speaking schedule

• October 4-8: Idaho Library Association, Moscow, ID
  • Tech Terms
  • Firefox Search Plugins
• October 21-26: Internet Librarian 2006, Monterey, CA
  • 22: Integrating RSS Into Your Web Site (Pre-Conference)
  • 23: The Second Life Library 2.0: Going Where the Users Are
  • 24: Flickr & Libraries
  • 25: Book Signing (Information Today, Inc. booth)
• November 9-12: Colorado Association of Libraries, Denver, CO
  • 11: Tech Terms
• November 13-15: University of Nevada, Las Vegas Law Library, Las Vegas, NV
  • 14: Web Page Creation Basics (XHTML)
  • 15: Introduction to CSS
• November 26-December 1: Nevada State Library Gates Workshops
  • 27: Computer Security (Salt Lake City)
  • 27: Setting up a WiFi Netowrk (Salt Lake City)
  • 28: Technical Support in Your Library (Salt Lake City)
  • 30: Computer Security (Moab)
  • 30: Setting up a WiFi Netowrk (Moab)
  • 01: Technical Support in Your Library (Moab)
• December 5-8: Iowa City Public Library
  • 6: Blogs (BCR Workshop)
  • 6: RSS (BCR Workshop)
  • 7: Podcasting 101 (BCR Workshop)
  • 7: Wikis (BCR Workshop)
  • 8: The Social Web (Staff in-service day)

What is this library thing?

What is this library thing?
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

The Strange "Thing" needs identification. It is currently housed at Western State University in Gunnison, Colorado and they're looking for an answer. Both REAL answers and FUN answers are welcomed, and should be sent to Beth Avery.

Need some new wallpaper

Fall colors in Colorado
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

I'm not the best photographer in the world but I'm getting better. IMHO this is one of the best photos I've ever taken and if you're in need of some new desktop wallpaper feel free. (Just click on the photo, select "all sizes" and choose the size appropriate for your desktop.)

Podcasts I listen to part 1: @ the office

I've been asked, so for those interested, here's a list of podcasts I listen to at the office.)

• 43 Folders
• APM: Future Tense
• Blogging (GigaVox Media)
• commandN
• CTBL News (Colorado Talking Book Library)
• Diggnation
• Inside the Net
• JupiterResearch Conversations
• Law (GigaVox Media)
• OpenStacks
• RSS (GigaVox Media)
• Security (GigaVox Media)
• Security Now!
• SirsiDynix InstituteT
• Talking with Talis
• The Future of Music
• this WEEK in TECH

Net Neutrality, one Senator's view (or not)

Here's a response I received this mornign from one of my senators regarding Net Neutrality.

August 7, 2006

Mr. Michael Sauers
1185 Florence St
Aurora, Colorado 80010-3226

Dear Michael:

Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns in regards to government regulation of the Internet. I appreciate you taking the time to write on such an important issue.

The Internet has been one of the leading technological advances of this generation. The network created between computers has reached into every part of our culture and changed the way we live, work, travel, shop, and socialize. The Internet is also one of the greatest examples of the ingenuity that has made the United States a perennial leader in technological advancement that is improving the quality of our lives and those around the world.

On May 1, 2006, Senator Stevens introduced the Communications, Consumer's Choice, and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006 that was referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for further consideration. The major provisions of the measure deal with a wide range of topics, including universal service reform; streamlining of the video franchising process; requiring the FCC to report annually to Congress on the net neutrality issue; interoperability of public safety communications systems; interconnection; and municipal broadband ownership. The bill also contains a number of provisions relating to broadcast issues such as the digital television transition and provisions relating to protecting children from child pornography.

Additionally, Representative Joe Barton introduced the Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006 (H.R.5252) that was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on June 8, 2006. Among other things, H.R.5252 contains provisions that establish a national cable franchising process; clarify the FCC's authority to enforce its network neutrality principles; address voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) 911 interconnection and E911 requirements; and bar states from prohibiting municipalities from providing their own broadband networks.

As a United States Senator, I believe I should help ensure that policies are in place to foster timely deployment of broadband to all sectors and geographical locations of American society. The current debate in the U.S. Congress and across the nation is concentrated on whether additional laws and regulations are needed to ensure the development of competition and its subsequent consumer benefits (often referred to as "net neutrality"), or conversely, whether more laws and regulations would be overly burdensome and discourage investment and deployment of such services. Congress should be careful in approving legislation without first examining its ramifications on economic growth, innovation, and market competition.

Please be assured that I will continue to work with my colleagues to help solve many of the challenges facing the American society in the age of continuing technological advances. I look forward to further debate should this legislation reach the Senate floor.

Thank you for writing to share your concerns. I look forward to hearing from you again. If you would like more information on issues important to Colorado and the nation, please log on to my website at http://allard.senate.gov.

Sincerely,
A
Wayne Allard
United States Senator

WA:SK

After reading this I'm still not sure what his stance is...

Just call me Sparky

As I write this I'm sitting in seat 10C on a United flight from Reno, NV to Denver, CO after aproximately 24 hours in Nevada. I think Murphy came with me on this one...

It started yesterday morning with my leaving my bag at my house instead of bringing it with me to the office so I could go straight to the airport for my 3pm flight. That created the necessity to go back home to get my bag.

After checking into my hotel in Reno I was off to Sparks, NV (a Reno subburb) to find the Sparks branch of the Washoe County Public Library. This short trip was to make sure where I needed to be the next morning to teach my class. I went in, introduced myself to the librarian at the reference desk and said that I was confirming this was the branch I was looking for. She confirmed as such and even pointed me to their meeting room as that's where training was generally held. I thanked her and headed back to my rental car. A few feet short of the car I reached into my pants pocket for the keys and found only lint. I'd locked the keys in the car.

Luckily I have a AAA membership so I pulled the card out of my wallet, and, since I was in Nevada, and not Colorado, figured it would be better to call the national 800 number instead of the local 303 number. I dialed and was immediately put through to AAA Colorado. It seems that their system is "smart" and figured out that I must be calling from Colorado due to the caller ID on my phone. I informed the person on the phone that I was not in Colorado but in Nevada and his response was to ask me if there was a land line I could call back from as that would be "faster" than him putting me through to AAA Nevada. (Look, I understand how the system works, but in an age of cell phones, what's the point of having both local and "national" numbers when, if you're calling from a cell phone, your actual physical location becomes irrelevant to the system?) I was eventually promised that someone would be around to help me "within the hour" and 1:15 later, someone did arrive. It took the lock guy exactly five seconds (I timed him) to get into the rental car.

That's the end Thursday for me and I ended up having dinner at the hotel as I didn't want anything else to go wrong.

This morning I awake early, find a Starbucks, have some java, and arrive back at the Sparks branch at 7:00 in anticipation of my contact person showing up to let me in at 7:45 for my 8am class. At 8am, I'm starting to get nervous as no one else has shown up yet. The phone calls to both BCR and my contact's office number start at this point. I leave a voicemail for my contact and the folks at BCR confirm that I'm in the right place as far as they know. At 8:30 I get a phone call from one of the students (who got my cell number from BCR) wondering where I am. Well, I'm at the Sparks branch but all the students are at the Spanish Springs branch, which, by the way, is also in Sparks. (At this point, I'm sure the total confusion was my fault.) Off to the right branch I head to start class 45 minutes late. (This is the first time in nine years I've not started a class on time.)

After class, a wonderful lunch with some systems folks, and a much needed bananna frappaccino at the same Starbucks from the morning, then off to the Reno airport for my 4:30 flight home. The flight home by the way, is going through San Francisco (no need to draw you a map I'm sure) and gets me into Denver at 11:50pm. At about 4:00 I head to the mens room and notice that at the next gate over is a direct flight to Denver leaving at 5:00pm, getting me home about 8:00pm. I ask if I can switch flights (I've only got carry-on) and I'm granted not only a seat on the dirct flight but an exit-row seat in economy plus. (Mondo leg room here I come!)

So, I'm in that seat. The seat that doesn't want to stay in it's "full upright and locked position" (real fun during takeoff,) and a reading lamp that won't stay on, or off, for anylength of time.

I need a vacation...

CAL Conference 2006

I proposed, they offered, and I've accepted. I'll be presenting "Tech Terms: What's New, What's Hot, and What You've Got to Know" from 2-3pm on November 11, 2006 at the Colorado Association of Libraries 2006 Conference. (The site doesn't have the program up yet. It will be "finalized by August 1st".

A biblioblogger visits the local branch library

I've been parodied. This'll teach me to just scan the headlines. It seems that fellow CO librarian (one gracious enough to write for my issue of Colorado Libraries which should be out any day now I told,) has written a hillarious blog post titled "A biblioblogger visits the local branch library". Most of my non-librarian readers won't understand much of it but here's the best part IMHO:

BIBLIOBLOGGER: OK, well, let me run my Portable Firefox from my USB drive on one of your public-access computers...

BRANCH LIBRARIAN: We don't allow patrons to use USB drives. The IT guys won't let us. MySpace and IM are blocked, too.

BIBLIOBLOGGER: Say no more. I understand. Just give me a Google Map to the IT guy's home and I'll get Sauers to rub him out. When are people going to realize that if they don't 'get it,' they are going to 'GET IT,' know what I mean? I'm sure you are on Flickr though?"

Kudos to Steve for this one.

The Colorado Talking Book Library does RSS

Alex from the Colorado Talking Book Library attended my RSS workshop last week and became inspired. With a few additional e-mails and phone calls, he has successfully created a feed announcing their newsletters and a podcast of the newsletter's audio version. Now he's looking for content to distribute that comes out more often than quarterly.

English Only

According to this Denver Post article there's some interesting new library law being proposed for the state of Colorado.

"According to a draft of a concurrent resolution Schultheis is sponsoring, he also wants to bar public libraries from 'purchasing any printed or electronic documents, publications or other materials in a language other than English.'"

One CO librarian has responded: "I think Herr Schultheis is denying his heritage."

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.

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.

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

Colorado Association of Libraries

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

Forming Library Districts in Colorado 2006

Forming Library Districts in Colorado 2006
Originally uploaded by travelinlibrarian.

I've spent the day with 80 library trustees and directors from libraries all over Colorado discussing the how's any why's of becoming a library district. The session gave the four of us from the Aurora board a lot to think about and discuss at our next meeting on Thursday. Photos from the even can be found in my flickr account.

Overdue "tantalizes" patrons

Today's Overdue is another book review. This one is about Connie Willis' Inside Job which I've read. (Connie is also a wonderful woman and a Colorado resident.) The funniest bit is the fact that the Mallville library doesn't actually own since it was a small press limited edition (from Subterranean Press). I got a big kick out of it because I read a copy from one of my local public libraries and I'm conflicted on the idea of libraries buying limited editions and ruining them with all the tape, stamps, and stickers.

Call for articles (Colorado librarians only)

I’ve been invited to be the guest editor of the spring 2006 issue of Colorado Libraries and since I’ve accepted, it is now my job to find librarians willing to contribute articles. The issue’s topic is “Managing Change in Libraries” so I’m looking for libraries that have been going through changes and are willing to share how they’ve dealt with all the issues involved. Potential areas of change that you could write about include, but are not limited to:

• Staffing changes (retiring baby boomers being replaced with Gen-X or millennial librarians)
• Dealing with the ever increasing speed of technological changes
• The changing roll of the librarian in society
• Moving from in-house services to outsourcing
• Changes in the library’s collection (moving from physical to digital resources)
• Service changes in response to shifting populations
• Managerial issues with change

This is just a list of topics that I came up with and welcome any other suggestions. I am looking for authors from all types of libraries and at all levels from paraprofessional to directors. If you are interested in submitting an article please send me a 1-2 paragraph summary of your article idea by January 6, 2006. Upon acceptance of your proposal I will send you the author guidelines. Finished articles will need to be 8-10 double-spaced pages (length negotiable depending on the number of submissions) and submitted to me no later than February 20, 2006. Thank you for your consideration and please feel free to pass this along to any other Colorado librarians that you feel might be interested.

Writing: Colorado Libraries

I've been invited to be the guest editor for the spring 2006 issue of Colorado Libraries. This means that I'm in charge of finding the authors, assembling the articles, making sure they're up to snuff, and putting them in order. (No Laura, I'll not be doing the copyediting...) As soon as I get organized I'll post the call for articles. (Sorry, Colorado librarians only.)

Computers In Libaries 2006 discount registration

Please excuse any cross postings.

Once again BCR is sponsoring discounted rates for the upcoming Computers in Libraries conference, March 22-24, 2006, at the Hilton Washington in Washington, D.C. These discounts are being offered in cooperation with Information Today, Inc.

Staff from BCR member libraries may attend using BCR's group registration rate of $185 for the three-day event (regular price is $399). Discount prices of $99 for the Internet@Schools East conference (regularly $199) and $199 for the combo of Internet@Schools East and Computers in Libraries general conferences (actual price is $429) are also available. No discount rates are available for pre- or post-conference events.

More information about the conference is available on Information Today's Web site at http://www.infotoday.com/cil2006/.

For more information about the discounted rates, contact BCR's Stephanie Jauregui at sjauregu@bcr.org, (800) 397-1552 or (303) 751-6277, X127. To receive the discount you must send your registration and payment (please make checks out to Information Today, Inc.) to: BCR, 14394 E. Evans Avenue, Aurora, Colorado 80014-1478, by February 1, 2006.

Should you have to show ID to ride a bus?

Meet Deborah Davis. She's a 50 year-old mother of four who lives and works in Denver, Colorado. Her kids are all grown-up: her middle son is a soldier fighting in Iraq. She leads an ordinary, middle class life. You probably never would have heard of Deb Davis if it weren't for her belief in the U.S. Constitution.

Will it come to this? The ID card above is satire, but how soon before it becomes reality? When honest, law-abiding citizens can't commute to work on a city bus without a demand for their "papers," something is very, very wrong.

One morning in late September 2005, Deb was riding the public bus to work. She was minding her own business, reading a book and planning for work, when a security guard got on this public bus and demanded that every passenger show their ID. Deb, having done nothing wrong, declined. The guard called in federal cops, and she was arrested and charged with federal criminal misdemeanors after refusing to show ID on demand.

On the 9th of December 2005, Deborah Davis will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in a case that will determine whether Deb and the rest of us live in a free society, or in a country where we must show "papers" whenever a cop demands them.

Panel invite

I've been asked to participate in "Spotlight on Your Career" sponsored by the Colorado Association of Law Libraries and the Rocky Mountain Special Libraries Association in February 2006. I'll be on a panel "of authors and editors talking about librarians as authors". Sounds like it'll be a lot of fun. I'll post additional detais as I receive them.

CAL2005: Saturday Keynote: The Julie J. Boucher Memorial Lecture on Intellectual Freedom

Patrica Schroeder, Association of American Publishers & former Democratic representative from Colorado

• Jefferson must be looking down and wondering “are they still fighting for intellectual freedom”
• Colorado has always shown leadership on this issue
• Remembers when the police when into the Tattered Cover and the owner said no. She won that lawsuit.
• Under the Patriot act, that wouldn't work
• AAP news:
• Unveiled authorsatyourlibrary.org at ALA
• Work w/ ALA business alliance
• work w/ ALA leadership
• Supported library funding especially in NY
• Work to see how libraries and publishers can work together
• works w/ PLA leadership
• working to increase Spanish books in libraries
• Get caught reading posters
• Katrina donations w/ ALA
• The patriot act shows that we're all in this together
• what is the status of intellectual freedom in 2005
• “it's pretty bad”
• Bush thinks those that oppose the war are “deeply irresponsible”
• Why wouldn't you want people to ask those questions?
• That's very troubling
• abstinence group is fighting a vaccine against uterine cancer because it might increase promiscuity
• Challenge to American Girls dolls
• Librarians are on the front line of this issue
• people are feeling more and more empowered to say “remove that because I said so”
• What happened to the process?
• she works w/ K-12 publishers
• 14 states have moved to teaching intelligent design
• PA went one way, KS went the other
• have to put a lot of stuff in textbooks that is someone's belief, not part of the accepted scientific fact
• it's amazing how many people are banning books
• Harry Potter is the most banned book in the country yet the same people are worried that little boys aren't reading
• Also, Captain Underpants
• They're reading, quit complaining
• Book banned in Norwood, CO was on Laura Bush's top ten reads list
• We salute you all for your efforts
• Bill O'Reiley has requested that San Francisco withdraw from the union, because in the last election they banned handgun sales and said no military recruiters in their schools
• Where are the people who will push back
• it shouldn't be just the librarians
• When kids start going to Islamic school w/ vouchers there's going to the be complaints
• in your face attitude is new and bold and getting worse
• Our forefathers didn't want to live under theocrats, believed in religious freedom for all
• “congress shall make no law” how much clearer can it be?
• Yet we see people trying to interpret that law and make changes
• the people who don't like activist judges are installing activist judges
• Why do they feel empowered today?
• it goes back to 9/11, Pat Robertson & Jerry Fallwell
• they're now defining what gets us rights with god
• no real punishment for saying anything too radical
• Robertson's group was one of the first to get funding for Katrina faith-based aid
• very powerful religious constituency
• god shouldn't be used as a bettering ram in political debates
• mainstream religions need to pull that back
• their intensity is overwhelming the majority of citizens
• this country was supposed to be based on science, reason, and trust in the wisdom of others
• people should be free from the government to figure out this on their own
• democratic values are under attack by those who say they're the pious ones
• public leaders constantly yield to them
• Who are they to make those statements (Robertson, ORiley)
• They've become bullies because they keep getting away with it
• if we let these bullies keep doing this we're going to be in big trouble
• critical point on the patriot act
• passed way too fast
• dream list for law enforcement agencies
• nobody bothered to read it
• did give it a expiration date (end of this year) unless renewed
• Told the AAP needed to go after those senators
• senators kept canceling the appointments
• finally got in to express their opinion, the senate bill is better
• FBI's been sending national security letters
• gag order on person who receives the letter
• no court oversight, 60 people in FBI who can authorize these letters
• Pre patriot act, 300/year w/ court review
• Post patriot act, 30,000/year
• They have been doing this in libraries despite saying they haven't
• Doe case in CT
• Senate bill sets limits including return of irrelevant records and directly tied to terrorism
• House has twice killed the Sanders amendment
• passed but republicans kept votes open longer than usual (1^st time)
• Taken out of bill in appropriations committee (2^nd time)
• go back and look at the first gulf war
• people went into bookstores to buy books on Islam and the middle east
• probably also checking them out of the library
• university presses were doing great
• patriot act can get those records and make those people look like sympathizers
• this can have a chilling effect on what people will buy/check out
• we should trust the individual to make a good decision
• Freedom to read principle is the core of what we believe in
• you need the first amendment for an informed citizenship and therefore a good government
• Let's hope the patriot act is at least softened in the next few days
• we shouldn't constantly in code red
• Other things:
• AR school district book challenges
• Freedom to read foundation (CT Doe case)
• led amicus effort to challenge filter mandates
• we need to continue to work together
• more challenges are to come in the next three years of this administration
• We need to continue to fight back
• Google concerns:
• amazed libraries are letting google copy for free
• why a for-profit company?
• what does the library get out of it?
• Google wants all the information in the world on their servers
• What if Fox News bought google?
• I love google's search engine
• authors are concerned that people are getting it for free
• here's the content going to come from if google kills authors' willing to publish?
• creators are the peasants, google makes the profit
• privacy issues
• targeted advertising
• salute ALA in they're not taking a postion
• we need to talk about it
• worried about the depth of scholarship from this
• teaching ADD if you're not born with it
• optimistic
• people are starting to get worried over the diminishing of their liberties
• people aren't quivering as much over the administrations statements
• Movie “Good Night and Good Luck” (Murrow taking on McCarthy) should be required viewing for every American
• Maybe journalism will become professional again
• Thanks librarians for being on the front lines, you've done a great job
• I continue to support you.
• Q&A
• ME: Google snippet question
• That's not what she meant (what was written)
• Google gets to define what a snippet is
• Rick Aston: “Librarians are the enemy” in dealing with the DMCA
• Felt like a piñata when dealing with librarian on the issue
• Librarians kept telling her she was wrong and she believes that's now over as an issue
• Please comment on AAP plan to license libraries to pay a license fee for a book that's purchased
• Says they're not promoting that
• licensing has been discussed vis a vie google & yahoo etc.
• what is your opinion on blogging and wikis related to journalism
• not sure what she thinks about that
• is wikipedia accurate? not sure...
• questioner's point is that it has a big social significance
• how do they know which bloggers have the biggest audience?
• are bloggers journalists?
• Doesn't realty understand how they're proved valid and who reads them
• “Harpy effect”
• How much time in the day is there to read it all?
• Comment on the fact that someone wasn't punished enough, should he have been punished at all if congress “shall make no law”
• But the example she was using involved a government/military official forcing religion on their subordinates
• Officials should not use their position to force a religions viewpoint
• RE: Patriot Act, if we all emailed out legislators today, would it do any good
• Please do
• it's not going to go away, but supporting the senate version would help
• they need to deal with it before xmas break or it will go through as the administration wants
• Comment: Brit libraries were considering the licensing issue
• Comment: When the other side is so intense & angry, we need tools to diffuse the anger, couldn't the publishers promote books on how to diffuse anger.
• Non-fiction market has increased significantly recently
• History books (1776, John Addams, August 1965) now big
• How to break into the market of those who aren't reading
• We don't have a place to go to talk to people who don't agree with us
• Book: “Bowling Alone”
• Get it out to TV & Cable instead of reality shows
• How would you categorize censorship on the publisher side
• It's an area we deal with
• K-12, “good math books are not in the schools, these are the good ones”
• “terror problem” in the marketplace
• More in the schools than everywhere else
• intelligent design, abstinence, morality
• “the text books are wrong”
• CA & TX are so powerful in selecting textbooks, what they say is what goes

CAL2005: Blog On: What's a blog and how to I create one?

Shelly Walchak, Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC)

• What is a weblog
• Components of a blog
• Comments
• regularly updated
• reverse chronological
• History of blogs
• Origins
• rise to influence
• the first controversy
• Trent Lott / Strom Thurmond comments
• Documentation
• blogging goes mainstream
• Definitions
• Blogger
• Blogosphere
• Blogstorm
• Blogrolling
• Splog
• Types
• Organizational
• Political
• Corporate
• Personal
• media blogs
• Steps
• blogger.com
• create an account
• name your blog
• choose a template
• Next steps
• Settings
• Posting
• Publishing
• Permissions
• Members
• template

CAL2005: Googleization: A Discussion

George Jaramillo & David Domenico, Colorado State University

I spoke to the presenters in advance of their session and they admitted that beyond showing the Googlezon short film as a discussion starter, they had no specific presentation planned. Hey, winging is what I do half the time so I'm never going to hold that against anyone...

• “Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible an useful.”
• Shown: Googlezon by Robin Sloan
• Audience reactions
• Plausible
• “Truth no more”
• We choose who's interpretation we listen to
• Wikipedia
• fact vs. opinion
• You still need to evaluate
• The power of the many over the power of the few
• To have computers determine what you're reading scares me
• Privacy issues are a concern
• Identity theft issues?
• We're reacting as if it's the only source
• People are selecting what they want today
• Can people evaluate?
• Kids today are forced to learn how to evaluate since there's so much more, is this true? studies disagree
• “Everything that's bad for you is good” (book)
• how much choice do we really have?
• bad information also propagates quickly
• risk of people being stuck in their own narrow view
• people don't want to dig deeper than the first 10 sites
• you've always asked your friends first, not the official resources, now it's just on a much larger scale
• who controls the algorithms
• CSU: “I found this on Google Scholar” but we're spending $$$ on databases
• Is Google a threat to libraries?
• The library community are questioning our relevance
• We talk about Google too much
• We need to be their partner
• Frustrated by the ease of Google vs. databases
• Might the technology make evaluation easier?
• More content creation & peer-review i.e. social software
• Google is an additional resource
• Is this not what we've been discs sing for years?
• learning curve on the databases we buy, they're more difficult to use
• Googlezon will probably not be a monopoly
• Privacy, privacy, privacy
• Google is responding to the demands of the public
• Maybe we as librarians need to create their own Google-like resource
• The potential of the opposite is there... maybe there will be more players than there are right now.
• “Reach them where they live” -- start the kids with what they know (Google) then move on to the library resources
• Small libraries can't afford and therefore don't have access to those subscription databases
• Should we give up the evaluation to someone else
• Maybe we (librarians) should be the ones writing the algorithms
• Business is going to drive all this
• Google is fast and easy, no struggle.
• Social networks
• make the library's homepage come up when a patron connects to the library's WiFi
• we need to be thinking about teaching our patrons about these issues
• we suck at marketing
• why are we threatened?
• let's do what we do best
• the reference interview is still important

CAL2005: Saturday Keynote

Introduced by Gene Hainer, Colorado State Librarian

• Where are Colorado Libraries today?
• A lot of good things going on operationally despite the budget problems
• State library lost 79% of funding in 2002
• Talking book library
• lost all the regional systems
• replaced by CLiC
• State aid to school libraries
• loss of $11 million in local funding
• homework help line now gone (grant funded)
• Request for courier support for CLiC was approved (review and consideration in governor's office)
• State Aid restoration has been requested
• Database funding has also been requested

Colorado Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff

• [M: First democrat to hold the office since 1972]
• [M: His district is East Denver and Glendale]
• [M: Teaches PoliSci at Community College of Aurora]
• Thanks for helping pass Referendum C
• What does it mean and where do we go from here?
• Librarians help enlighten Colorado
• Unfortunately enlightenment is optional in the budget
• This is not an end to our fiscal crisis
• We still need to economize
• This is a state where people do agree with each other
• Ref C was totally bipartisan
• Both the Boulder and CO Springs city councils supported it
• CO fell further and faster in job growth than any other state in the nation
• We lost a lot of high tech industries
• Drought
• forest fires
• tourism due to terrorist attacks
• We couldn't wait for the national economy to turn around
• This state can deliver on what the employers want
• low taxes
• high quality of life
• skilled workforce
• good education system
• We're 49^th in higher education support
• second highest rate of college grads
• also high rate of high school dropouts
• The businesses go where the good education is
• Governors of other states are happy we're cutting since the result is that jobs go to their states
• We've also got to compete with the educational systems in other countries
• Ref C allows us to restore services that have been cut over the last few years but we can't restore all of them
• “once you've fallen into as hole you should stop digging”
• Ref C is not a blank check or an authorized spending spree
• It was passed by a very narrow margin (52-48%)
• that should humble us
• general population growing, prison pop growing, medicaide pop growing
• Most folks don't know who their rep is, that's not good
• Bills not killed, just postponed indefinitely
• Tell the legislator what you thing we're going wrong
• We're better representatives if we stay in touch with those who we represent
• Denver Broncos are better known that the legislators and that's not the way it should be
• Current debate: What role, if any, government ought to play
• There are things we can do better together than separately. We're stronger ogether than separately
• Q&A [mostly about specific legislative items and asking for advice on better getting “our agenda” passed]

[M: This guy is funny!]

CAL2005: Tools to Help Train Trustees – Colorado State Library's Board and Trustees Handbook and Douglas County Libraries' Trustee Training Manual

Patricia Froehlich (Colorado State Library)

• Handout: Colorado Public Libraries by Size of Population
• Handout: Addresses of Colorado Public Libraries, 2005, including director name and contact information
• New Colorado Public Library Standards released in 2005
• also completely available on the Web
• Last time training handbook was updated: 1997
• State library has been revising it
• It's being put up on the Web as the information is updated
• Print version won't be complete and out until next spring
• Handout: Colorado Public Library Board & Trustees Pocket Handbook
• This on is just a prototype
• Has been reviewed by directors, advisory boards and trustees
• All done via e-mail and phone, no live meetings
• Looks to cover a variety of situations and types of library boards
• suggestion: “develop the mission of the library” be added to the section on duties of trustees
• Developed based on an example from the North Carolina State Library

James LaRue (Douglas County)

• Handout: Douglas County Libraries Trustee Orientation Manual
• Suggests this be used as a template for your library
• Structures, non-jargon, straight-forward
• Based on Massachusetts version
• Mainly developed by the board president and Jamie's assistant who was new to the organization. (She saw it as a learning experience for herself too)
• Library By-laws were developed in 1990 and hadn't changed in 15 years
• They were out of date
• went from 30-something to 360 employees in that period
• Mission Statement first
• contest for staff to see who could memorize it
• made it short, made staff learn it
• put onto pocket cards for the board
• Vision statement, time line, long range plan
• Sticky stuff in the main manual, fast changing stuff in appendices so they can be easily updated
• Org chart, board info, director, district information, stats, budget, Web site, OPAC
• Physical layout, branches
• Personnel
• The board only has one employee, the director
• everyone else works for the director, they're his/her responsibility
• Expect board members have reviews this in advance of the first meeting
• Expect members to view meeting info in advance and for the meetings to start on time
• Library environment
• ALA, PLA, State Library, CAL, ACLIN, Friends
• Library Law
• Sunshine & open meeting, investment, Tabor, Internet issues
• The purpose of policy is to make you look good
• To give you time to research
• to give you time to de-escalate the situation
• not to be publicly humiliated
• PR issues
• Douglas County has had 27 book challenges this year
• Confidentially issues
• especially with children
• Calls for being allowed access to child's records
• “Have you considered talking with your child?”
• Don't ignore young people trying for the board as their first opportunity
• strongly recommends becoming a district
• Know your legislators
• Board job descriptions
• Term limits
• Wrong question
• “Who effective are the board members”
• rotate people out before they can come back in
• Boards over seven start to get unwieldy, smaller than five can't do enough
• Vice President: “Somebody's got to be in charge of vice”
• The president is only one member & does not have the power to follow their own agenda
• Committees
• Douglas uses committees because “it works for us”
• Like the smaller groups to discuss and make recommendations
• Each board member expected to be on two committees
• appointed by the new board president each January
• Typically three people per committee
• Have invited people from outside the board to participate in committee meetings
• Arapahoe LD has not committees, they use “study sessions”
• Decorum
• If people coming into the library are treated well and smiling, you've already failed
• Services: Have you moved from VHS to DVD yet? Why are you still buying VHS if you still are?
• Is the board fulfilling the mission?
• Board evaluation and accountability
• very important!
• Rare
• Is the board only accountable to themselves?
• need to be above suspicion
• We have a good record
• Set goals for the board and follow through
• Ethics
• Don't do anything you want on the front page of the paper
• listen to your “inner mother”
• Make sure the library is well managed, not manage the library well
• Annual contracts with directors still rare in Colorado
• New patron packet also given to board
• No longer mailing board packets
• [M: Aurora has folders that can be picked up]
• They use a Web site
• Jargon & acronym glossary
• “If you're doing it in secret you shouldn't be doing it at all”

CAL2005: Advance post

I'm off to the Colorado Association of Libraries (CAL) conference this afternoon. This one's here in the Denver metro area so I get to sleep in my own bed each night. I've been told there's no WiFi in the Tech Center Marriott so posts will not appear until late in the evening when I get back home. I'm mostly attending sessions for library trustees but you never know what I might end up witnessing. Also, I'll be tagging my conference photos on flickr as "cal2005" and have encouraged others to do so.

Colorado library (bad) news

It seems that the state-wide courier that transported books between libraries within the state declared bankruptcy this morning. As a result, both the Denver Public Library and Aurora Public Library systems have suspended ILL via the Prospector system until a replacment can be found.

Spanish Libraries in Denver

Library's Spanish outreach criticized

"Although some patrons have praised the library's vision, the Language and Learning idea has met with resistance from those who say that the proposal is another step toward placing Spanish on an equal footing with English as the national language.

"'The library is a purveyor primarily of written information, and it should be provided largely, say 95 percent, in the native language of our country, which is English,' said Fred Elbel, president of Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform."

First, there is no "national language" of the United States. Those bills, have yet to pass. Second, last I checked, any of the "native language" of this country can be found on the Native Languages of the Americas site.

Colorado passes anti-PATRIOT act resolution

Considering the general leaning of politicians in this state this I find this to be a welcoming surprise.
via LISNews

April snow showers kill April flowers

This is what I woke up to this morning. Ah, springtime in Colorado...
Update: Seems that the storm was worse than it looked from my front door.

The difference between right and left

The right lane is for driving, the left lane is for passing. Learn this. Live this. Don't forget it while on the highways of Colorado.

"Sponsorship" not "Censorship"

I don't blog most of the book-banning related stories I read since they're well documented on other blogs. However, this story happened here in Colorado and the things said in the article are just amazing. It seems that the superintendent of Norwood High School gave a all of the copies of Rudolfo Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima to a parent to destroy without, of course, reading the whole book. The good thing is that at least one of the school's juniors only heard of the book because of the controversy and specifically read it in response.
via LISNews

Colorado job, in wyoming, says arizona

Here's an interesting job posting from the AZ state library for someone to develop a Russian collection for the Arapahoe Library district, located in Colorado. According to the "Location" field of the anouncement the job is located in "WYOMING". (I've got a screenshot of this if the fix it and you don't believe me.)

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein

Well, haven't heard a date yet for the USA Netowrk series but it looks like it's also going to be a book series also. The first one, titled "Prodigal Son" is co-authored by Kevin J. Anderson of X-Files, Dune, and Saga of the Seven Sons fame (he also lives here in Colorado,) so it should be quite well-written. Look for it on January 25th according to Amazon.com.

Coming up

I've been asked by the Colorado Council of Medical Librarians to do a workshop in the Spring and the folks over at WebJunction.org have asked me to do an article on systems librarianship in small libraries. Neither are definite yet but the requests have been made.

My speaking at Internet Librarian is looking better by the minute. As soon as I have final approval from my director I'll post here.

Whoopie!

My Colorado tax refund appeared in my bank account earlier today. Car repairs, here we come.

Someone else who just doesn't get it

This review of The Clumsy Lovers' latest album was printed in the newspaper of the University of Colorado, Denver paper.

Missing my caucus won't matter anyway

I was kind of excited once I figured out that Colorado has caucusses instead of a primary. (I didn't bother find out four years ago since Gore was going to get the nomination anyway.) The CO caucus is in April but I'll be out of town that day so my excitement quickly disappeared. Trouble is, only fourteen states have voted and four candidates have already dropped out. By the time we get to April, will Colorado's votes for the Democratic nomination really matter? Will anyone but Kerry and Shaprton be left? Probably not.

What I did discover today was a plan from the National Association of Scretaries of State to revise the national promary system. This plan would break the country up into four regions. One region would vote on a day in March. Then the other three follow on single days in Arpil, May, and June. Which region got to go first would rotate. This sounds like an excellent plan to me. Now, if we could just get 50 state legislatures to go along with the plan...

Filtering in colorado libraries

A few in the Colorado Legislature is proposing a bill that would basically create a state-level CIPA. The City of Aurora is opposing the bill. Not because they're morally opposed to it. (In fact, the city already requires filtering.) The opposition is based upon the fact that the city automatically opposes any state law they consider to be an unfunded mandate.

Poppy ashcroft would be proud

Colorado House Bill 04-1179 (.pdf) "Requires an individual employed by a store to obtain identification information from the purchaser prior to making a sale of a methamphetamine precursor drug. Requires a store in which such sales are made to maintain a registry of purchasers who purchase methamphetamine precursor drugs from the store. Requires the registry to remain open for inspection by a law enforcement officer during normal business hours." It also "Makes it a misdemeanor for a person to knowingly violate the requirements concerning the retail sale of methamphetamine precursor drugs. Clarifies that certain persons connected with the ownership, operation, or management of a store that sells the drugs shall not be liable for violating the requirements if the person had no knowledge of a sale and did not direct or participate in the sale.

Oh, and "precursor drugs" are defined as "ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine". So, basically this law would require me to show ID to by Sudafed and that purchase could be reviewed by any "law enforcement officer." Orwell wasn't wrong, just early.

I'm not trying to keep it from the kids. i'm trying to keep it from everyone!

The Weld Library District out here in Colorado is deciding to keep It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex & Sexual Health on the shelf. According to this Greeley Tribune article, a picket of two may be forthcoming. Here are my favorite quotes from the article:

"They pick up a book like this and their sexual curiosity is awakened. Their passions are aroused," McAllister said.

"The Rev. Ray Grant said the book - which broaches topics such as sexual abuse, sexually transmitted disease, homosexuality and abortion - is unsuitable for children and even most adults."

"Children's curiosity about sex should be satisfied only after marriage, and if they are afraid of sexually transmitted disease, "let them abstain," Grant said."

Luckily, the library board is holding thier ground.