Angela's Blog

Nifty things you can do with Twitter

Angela — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 02:18:33 +0000

I’ve been using Twitter some over the last few months (follow me at angelalib). So, I really liked this article that lists many different types of things you can do with twitter. It covers cross-posting your blog into Twitter, using your Flickr account with Twitter, using Twitter as a Gmail notifier or alarm clock, and much more.
Just found another nice list of tools that work with Twitter:

25+ Incredibly Useful Twitter Tools and Firefox Plugins

EPA libraries

Angela — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:49:13 +0000

SHUTTERED EPA LIBRARIES OPEN DOORS TOMORROW AFTER TWO YEARS — EPA Headquarters and Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City Regional Libraries Re-Open

On September 30th, the last day of the federal fiscal year, EPA will re-open its regional libraries in Chicago (serving the Great Lakes region), Dallas (Mid-Southern region) and Kansas City (Mid-Western region) after more than two years. In addition, a long-shuttered library in EPA Headquarters will re-open and include a small portion of holdings from what had been a free-standing Chemical Library, for research on the properties and effects of new chemicals, as a “special Chemical Collection”.

Testing ScribeFire extension

Angela — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 02:17:07 +0000

I’m testing out the ScribeFire firefox extension…

Nice article about libraries

Angela — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:43:35 +0000

There is a nice article about libraries in Digital Web Magazine this week: Getting the Most Out of Your Library. It covers everything from library catalogs to Worldcat and other databases to special collections to the LibX Firefox toolbar, all the while showing how libraries can be helpful for web designers/developers.

Bounce rate

Angela — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 02:27:58 +0000

I just watched this helpful video about Google Analytics and website bounce rates. I’m definitely going to think about how I can apply this metric to the content I’ve worked on. Found via Stephen’s Lighthouse.

Sarah Palin and libraries

Angela — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:09:08 +0000

From the New York Times article “Palin’s Start in Alaska: Not Politics as Usual:”

“Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question.

Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.

The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support.”

Wiki for library policies project

Angela — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 20:39:18 +0000

I’ve been working on a customized implementation of MediaWiki to use for library policies and procedures in technical services. It will be part of our public website, so it needed to fit into its design, incorporate WYSIWYG editing, and only be editable by staff with user accounts. It isn’t live yet, so here are a few screenshots from the test site.

Sample public page

Sample page when logged in

Edit screen

Books to read

Angela — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:46:33 +0000

I always like the end of the year book lists published by the New York Times. I found lots of books to add to my “wanna read” list in the Books iRead Facebook app I use.

A Year of Books Worth Curling Up With
Janet Maslin, Michiko Kakutani and William Grimes pick their favorite books of 2007.
The 10 Best Books of 2007
The Book Review picks the best works from the last year.
100 Notable Books of 2007
The Book Review picks outstanding works from the last year.

New usability book for library websites

Angela — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:42:59 +0000

Making Library Web Sites Usable: A LITA Guide by Thomas Lehman and Terry Nikkel

It gives you practical advice in clear, non-technical prose, plus success stories from 18 academic, public, corporate, and government libraries. Read it and you will learn what usability assessments are, why they are important for libraries, why you should do them regularly, and what the most common challenges are. You will also learn all of the necessary how-tos, whats, and whys for the most common assessment techniques and how to interpret your results, document findings, and effectively communicate results and recommendations.

Library fines in the news

Angela — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:30:02 +0000

Late Library Books Can Take Toll on Credit Scores (New York Times)

Lots of interesting Readers’ Comments on the story