Publications and Writing Projects
Current Writing Projects
Daily blogging at iLibrarian
Intermittent research articles published at InfoTangle blog
Past Publications
Neal-Schuman Publishers April, 2010
"Be on the cutting edge with The Tech Set: Ten practical, fast-paced field guides to today’s hottest new technologies for information professionals- copublished with the prestigious Library and Information Technology Association (LITA, a division of the American Library Association)."" Continue Reading
American Libraries March, 2010
"New social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter enable librarians to converse, communicate, and collaborate with patrons as never before, because they are increasingly a part of people’s everyday lives. A brochure that describes your library with a few pictures is great, but a video tour that people can watch on your website or blog is immeasurably better. Enabling patrons to save their catalog searches is important, but offering the ability to notify patrons via email and text messaging when new acquisitions arrive presents a fresh way to connect with users."" Continue Reading
Stacking the Tech (Column): Library Journal Academic Newswire October 15, 2009.
"The biblioblogosphere is replete with posts announcing the launch of new SMS (text message) reference services at a steadily increasing number of academic libraries. The appeal of these services is more or less self-evident given the ubiquity of mobile devices on campus." Continue Reading
School Library Journal October 1, 2009.
"In January 2009, vice president of Ketchum Interactive James Andrews flew to Memphis, TN, to speak with a major client, FedEx, about social media. On the way to his presentation, Andrews logged on to Twitter and posted: “True confession but i’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say 'I would die if I had to live here!’”
The problem? One of Andrews’s followers, a FedEx employee, shared the update with his colleagues, sparking a PR debacle that was witnessed across the globe." Continue Reading
Stacking the Tech (Column): Library Journal Academic Newswire September 10, 2009.
"The past few years have seen the phrase ‘cloud computing’ steadily gaining momentum, becoming one of the most hyped technology buzzwords since “Web 2.0”—and with nearly as many different definitions. But one thing that most can agree upon is that cloud computing is a major shift in the way we’re approaching computing as both individuals and organizations, and is being referred to by many as an IT revolution." Continue Reading
Stacking the Tech (Column): Library Journal Academic Newswire August 6, 2009.
"The Library of Congress (LOC) has established itself as one of the leading institutions making use of social media to engage audiences and build community. And they have made great strides since January 2008 when they first began their Flickr Commons pilot. They have since launched a blog, a Facebook Page, YouTube and iTunes channels, and a Twitter account which claims over 13,000 followers. Most recently they have begun experimenting with the Semantic Web/Linked Data and cloud computing. I was fortunate enough to have a chance to chat with three of their librarians about these initiatives." Continue Reading
Stacking the Tech (Column): Library Journal Academic Newswire July 9, 2009.
"Web 2.0 let everyone in the game: it was the age of participation, and participate we did! So much so the explosion of information available online has left many of us with an uncomfortable sense of information overload. As the content of the Web continues to grow, we are seeing search engines and other similar services competing to serve our retrieval needs. To access the vast content stores of the read/write Web, these search tools make use of structured and linked data, real-time search, personalization, and more focused filtering techniques. If you’re a fan of buzzwords, you might say we’ve entered Web 3.0, a new era that is motivated by the need to more effectively organize, filter, and access information online." Continue Reading
Stacking the Tech (Column): Library Journal Academic Newswire June 11, 2009.
"On Wednesday, June 3rd, librarians from academic, public, and special libraries gathered at the Brooklyn College Library for an informal professional event called LibCampNYC 2009. This fully participant-driven “unconference” neatly reflected the current interests and prevailing concerns of many librarians." Continue Reading
6 Steps to Publishing a Scholarly Online Journal (for free!)
"Do you secretly harbor a dream of becoming Editor-in-Chief of your own publication? Are you organizing a conference and looking for an easy way to publish all of those contributed papers? Would you like to walk your students through the peer-reviewed publishing process? Why not start your own online journal?" (Available open-access here)
That’s Infotainment!: How to Create Your Own Screencasts
School Library Journal February 1, 2009.
"The first thing I want to do at the beginning of each new semester is dive into the course material and get my students as excited as I am about what we’ll be studying over the coming months. The last thing I want to do is spend precious time showing them the interactive features of our course Web site. My students tend to have varying degrees of proficiency with the Web, and while some would find such a primer remedial and frustrating, others would find the information too much to absorb in one sitting. "
Continue Reading
Drupal and Libraries
"Today's hottest Web destinations are sites which incorporate social features and functionality. They draw in readers by giving them the option to become writers as well; to contribute, to interact, to share, and to create. I use just that type of website to engage library school students in their study of new and emerging technologies. For each class I design a private social network in which students have their own blogs, may upload photos and embed videos, tag and bookmark content, create detailed user profiles, add friends to buddy lists, converse in a live chat room, and sign up for events on the course calendar. I do this through a free, open-source, content management system called Drupal which enables the development of social websites." (Available open-access here)
On the Move with the Mobile Web: Libraries and Mobile Technologies
"Imagine walking by a movie poster for the upcoming
Harry Potter film and scanning it with a click of your
camera phone in order to download associated ringtones, get showtimes, or even buy tickets. How about snapping a photo while browsing through a magazine to get a free sample of a new perfume? This may sound like science fiction right now, but in Japan, this type of mobile search technology is widespread, and in the United States similar services are already being developed, services that promise just this type of virtual engagement with the world around us. Think about the convenience of scanning the logo on someone’s Yankees cap to instantly receive the latest score from the game. This is what’s coming." (Available open-access here)
All a Twitter - Want to Try Microblogging?
"While sitting before a presentation at a recent library conference, I was able to broadcast my whereabouts, my mood, and my desire to connect with friends for dinner to over 150 conference attendees simultaneously, using my mobile phone. I managed this feat of hyper-connectivity through a service called Twitter, which enables social butterflies like myself to instantly publish brief messages to a network of contacts." Continue Reading
Web 2.0 for Librarians and Information Professionals
"Here is a book that will help public, school, and academic librarians take advantage of Web 2.0 technologies. Using an easy-to-understand writing style, author Ellyssa Kroski provides librarians and information professionals with a detailed look at the latest and hottest technologies. She provides innovative, real-world examples of libraries which are using these technologies to enhance their online presence, showcase services and increase patronage – as well as helpful, illustrative screenshots. Whether to create a book review blog, social bookmark collection, subject specific RSS feed, or a specialized search engine, librarians will find this guide invaluable for promoting their services in a digital age and attracting even the most tech-savvy of patrons." Continue Reading
Widgets to
the Rescue
"On a recent visit to the San Jose Zoo, I made a beeline for a family of meerkats. You know, the ever-vigilant and undeniably adorable relatives of the mongoose, title species of the popular Animal Planet television show? I never miss an episode of Meerkat Manor. So, no surprise, I returned from the zoo with a camera-full of snapshots, which I quickly uploaded to Flickr. Within minutes, anyone who visited my Facebook and MySpace profiles could view my pics of the 12-inch cuties, all thanks to a little application called a widget." Continue Reading
The Social Tools of Web 2.0
"The world of the Web has changed as a new breed of software applications makes it easy to accomplish incredibly sophisticated tasks with little technical know-how. The Internet has seen an explosion of social tools that are empowering ordinary people to connect and participate in a global conversation. People who had previously accessed the Web solely for shopping or research purposes now sign on for the experience of creating and sharing information in the public sphere. They are crafting both content and connections with other users in a new Web that links people to people, as well as to information." (Available open-access here)
Chapter 8: Folksonomies and User-Based
Tagging
"The wisdom of crowds, the hive mind, and the collective intelligence are doing what heretofore only expert catalogers, information architects and website authors have done. They are categorizing and organizing the Internet and determining the user experience, and it’s working. No longer do the experts have the monopoly on this domain; in this new age users have been empowered to determine their own cataloging needs. Metadata is now in the realm of the Everyman."
Learning in a Virtual World
"I had the privilege recently of overhearing a lively conversation between my two pre-school nieces that took place during the construction of the My Little Pony Butterfly Island. The older one was daydreaming about what she wanted to be when she grows up, and it seemed that she had settled upon becoming a teacher. The younger considered this choice, but wasn't tempted, instead deciding that she wanted to be a butterfly. I sighed and thought, "So do I!"" Continue Reading
How to Automate a Small Library
"There are many challenges to overcome when taking on an automation project for a small library. One is simply lack of experience with automation projects. Staff size in such a library is often small and may consist of only a solo librarian. Many times this will be the first and only automation project undertaken by the library staff." Continue Reading
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