By Patrick Hogan | The TECH SET is here, on my messy desk, as well as in our warehouse and ready to ship. Congratulations to Series Editor Ellyssa Kroski and authors Amanda Beilskas, Marshall Breeding, Jason Clark, Kathleen Dreyer, Amanda Etches, Robin Fay, Michael Lascarides, Joe Murphy, Greg R. Notess, Michael P. Sauers, Aaron Schmidt, Sarah K. Steiner, and Kenneth J. Varnum on publication of their TECH SET books.
ALA TechSource Blog
By Jason Clark | Welcome to Code Words. A new column looking to demonstrate how simple programming tasks and emerging technology trends can be applied to libraries. My goal is to provide an introduction to the role that programming and computer tools can play in building the digital branch of the library. Topics will include everything from relational databases, to mobile services, to simple Javascript routines, and much more.
By Jason Griffey | Editor's note: This post is adapted from the introduction to Jason Griffey’s new Library Technology Report “Gadgets and Gizmos: Libraries and the Post-PC Era.” Jason revisits the technologies that he highlighted in his 2010 report. And he beats himself up a bit over it. Help him let go of the past; excuse him from predicting the future; and join him in discussing the gadgets your patrons are using today: Jason will be presenting a two-part workshop on May 10 and May 24. Way back in April 2010, Library Technology Reports published “Gadgets and Gizmos: Personal Electronics and the Library,” but it was January of the same year when I turned in the manuscript for editing and effectively locked down the content. Nearly every single thing about it is now irrelevant at best, and downright ridiculous at worst.
By Jason Griffey | During the past few months, I’ve been lucky enough to give a handful of presentations with a similar theme: What does the Post-PC world mean for libraries? In the talks, I cover a lot of ground, ranging from why we should care about shifts in information consumption on devices, how we should determine where to focus our attention when we have limited resources (and we always have limited resources in libraries), and what we can expect from the next 3-5 years when it comes to delivering information to our patrons.
By Patrick Hogan | ALA TechSource is happy to introduce a new series for the blog, Code Words, by Jason Clark. The web is bursting with new software and new tech tools, but sorting through it all is time-consuming. Each month, Jason will share practical tips and snippets of code to give you a running start on projects. Occasionally, he’ll take a look at the bigger picture and point to an emerging tech or programming concept that people might want to know about.
By Daniel A. Freeman | We just wrapped up Sue Polanka’s popular workshop Integrating eBooks and eReaders into Your Library. Sue led a fantastic event with some great discussion! The readings, resources and slides for the event are listed below. Have further questions or comments? Whether you participated in the event or not, feel free to chime in via the comments area below! The Readings for Today’s Workshop: Session 1: Purchasing eBooks for Libraries
By Patrick Hogan | If you’ve been watching M&A activity in the library-literature space, you know that Neal-Schuman joined ALA Publishing back in December. Among the plums are the 10 new titles for THE TECH SET. The authors of books 1-10, Series Editor Ellyssa Kroski, and the Neal-Schuman staff were honored with the ABC-CLIO/Greenwood Award for the Best Books in Library Literature. Following this success comes the next set, ready for the printer, with June pub dates. Here’s what Ellyssa and her team of authors have worked up for you.
By Daniel A. Freeman | Your library is vital to connecting citizens with the knowledge and tools to change habits and lessen our impact on the Earth’s limited resources, and it all starts with leading by example.
By Patrick Hogan | Nearly daily, an integrated library system vendor sends out announcements about library implementations or agreements. Marshall Breeding, as ever, helps you make sense of it all. If you're in any phase of evaluating your current systems or alternatives, check out his nifty chart Integrated Library System turnover in 2011 on the Library Technology Guides site.
By Daniel A. Freeman | We just wrapped up our popular workshop Integrating iPads and Tablet Computers into Library Services. Today’s workshop was particularly noteworthy in light of Apple’s recent rollout of the iPad 3. The readings, resources and slides for the event are listed below. Have further questions or comments? Whether you participated in the event or not, feel free to chime in via the comments area below! The Readings for This’s Workshop: