It turns out that the popularity of Libraries has increased over the last decade according to the ALA. Their report subtitled Predicted demise due to Internet fails to materialize was linked in our UQ Library newsletter today and reads as good news to libraries everywhere.

New data on U.S. libraries shows almost two billion served

“Far from hurting American libraries, the Internet has actually helped to spur more people to use their local libraries because it has increased our hunger for knowledge and information,” said Loriene Roy, president-elect of the American Library Association. According the ALA report, virtually every library in the United States – 99 percent – provides free public computer access to the Internet, a four-fold increase in the percentage of libraries providing such free access over the last decade. By comparison, Roy pointed to another study released in March showing that only 69 percent of U.S. households have Internet access.

They are attributing much of this rise in popularity to free internet access. The article stresses the importance of access to information guidance from professionals (aka librarians). Does this mean that librarians are now just people who know how to type the right keywords into google?

Knowing how to find stuff online is an important skill which requires experience and instinct. Our library newsletter frequently reports “praise for a job well done”, usually involving a story of someone who spent hours making no progress before receiving help from a competent librarian. A lot of this hinges on being approachable and looking like you know what you’re doing without making people feel stupid (oh yeah: and actually knowing how to search for stuff).

As a non-librarian computer programmer, I think librarians need to go beyond spruking l33t searching skillz though. Librarians should also be stressing the reverse of searching: knowing how to put stuff on the internet in such a way that it will be found. I might be a bit biased since I’m helping write digital repository software but I think that knowing all about digital repositories is a very marketable skillset. Knowing all about metadata and it’s uses is both rewarding and a great conversation topic at parties.

Developing really good metadata plays an important part in inventing new ways of assembling and using data. I’ve seen some very cool things in google earth recently and a lot of innovation coming out of LibraryThing . None of this could happen without people organising their metadata in a discoverable and standards complient way.

I suppose my view of things is very coloured by coming from an IT perspective so let me know if I’m wrong but I think that the job title Librarian will become more and more associated with knowing all about metadata which translates to skills in putting as well as getting.

This is an interesting project which shows the benefits of digitisation. A collection of historical maps was digitised and processed (scaled and realigned) so that they could be added into google earth. This is an example of how scanning of books and old materials can lead to new sometimes unforeseen yet innovative uses.

Official Google Blog: Old world meets new on Google Earth

The cartographers and explorers who made these historical maps hundreds of years ago would be amazed and thrilled to see their maps in Google Earth. For me it is a perfect example of creative reuse of historic materials that the Web, thanks to Google, is making possible. Now anyone using Google Earth can experience the same wonder that I have had as I collected and explored these old maps in my private library –- for me it is really exciting to share this with the world using Google’s tools.

via OReilly

Coolness:

Thingology (LibraryThing’s ideas blog): Sneak peek: LibraryThing for Libraries

LibraryThing for Libraries is composed of a series of widgets, designed to enhancing library catalogs with LibraryThing data and functionality. The achievement is that the widgets require NO back-end integration.

Anyone got a digital camera? Perhaps UQL could get on board with this? Any takers?

librariesinteract.info

Libraryman has set up a Flickr group “365 Library Days Project“. In Michael’s words the aim is “Let’s get as many libraries as we can to sign up for a customized, library friendly version of the 365 project. That would mean that if you decide to participate, you would commit to downloading at least 365 pictures from in, around or about the library you work in, for and/or with.” The photographs could be uploaded to Flickr in batches, rather than daily and at the end of the year each featured library would have an archive showcasing a year in it’s history.

Here’s some cracking ring tones for your phones.

Can you help me find a book

We Employ Wild Animals as Librarians

via Librarian in black via InfoSciPhil

Seeing as I’ve had a lot of positive feedback on the March of The Librarians link, I thought I’d post a link to this too:

The L Team

Enjoy.

This youtube video is a crack up. I don’t want to explain it so just watch.

YouTube – March of the Librarians

Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology: Library Innovators*: McMaster University Press Coverage

Forget the card catalogue. McMaster’s new librarian is talking blog, wiki and gaming. He’s even giving the university an alternative life on a popular online world.

This post: 33 Reasons Librarians are Still Extremely Important – DegreeTutor.com is popular on a few librarians blogs at the moment. I suppose there are a lot of librarians out there who feel the need to defend their existence and this kind of post is an expression of that. The post argues effectively that libraries will always be needed (in the foreseeable future) so by extension, people who run libraries will be needed.

So are librarians feeling under pressure because they feel that their skill set is not widely understood and therefore not valued? Or is it because the required skill set of librarians has radically changed in a short period of time? Perhaps it’s to do with overlapping areas with other professions such as IT and education.

I found this via Librarian in Black

Innovation Creators: How to use Blogs in the Workplace

Do you know how to use blogs within your organization to help you get work done? There are plenty of blogs out there that can tell you how to use blogs as a PR and marketing tool to communicate with your clients. But, when people actually think about getting work done within the organization, not a lot has been written.

This post aims to tell you exactly what you need to do to use blogs efficiently within your organization.