i <3 halifax public libraries for this positively genius idea to draw the community’s attention to the planning process for the soon-to-be-built central library.

if you’re in halifax, be sure to attend the public consultation about the new central library on june 10, 2010.

and it’s really REALLY important that everyone read it.
i’m going to spend some time with it (me = not so good with legalese) and then post some thoughts.
you should do the same!

Copyright Bill C32

check out the McGill Library Blog where i’m live-blogging ePublishing in the Scholarly Community. there will be webcasting this afternoon as well.

McGill is hosting a great event on May 28, 2010 – the folks from the Public Knowledge Project will be around to give demos of their great software, and John Willinsky will be featured on a panel in the afternoon looking at New Models for the Scholarly Monograph.
if you’re interested – you can register below – but please go read the full details first!

cc licensed flickr photo shared by sashafatcat

libpunk was a term coined by kathryn stemming from jim’s term edupunk. she has a killer definition on her blog – so go check that out.

i took it to mean “building libraries out of whatever you have handy”. be that wordpress, scraps of paper, or just a really smart dude who is willing to connect folks to information. voilà – library!

i have to say that i’m less concerned with the mechanics of libpunk. you don’t need to hate corporate ‘Merica to be libpunk. some library vendors give a damn. you don’t have to hate tenure, conferences, or the boringest parts of your job to be libpunk

what you have to be, to be libpunk, is willing to critically evaluate everything and look for non-libraryland answers that suit your needs. other folk have solutions to our problems, just as we likely have solutions to some of theirs.

i see libpunk as the opportunity to break-free from libraryland-only talk. break-free from reinventing the wheel. break-out of silos. break-up with partnerships that don’t help our users. but mostly, BREAK THINGS AND MAKE THEM BETTER.

heading to Monterey today to attend Internet Librarian. not only do i get to catch up with my friends, but i get to hear about all the awesome ways libraryland is taking advantage of the web to better meet the needs of library uses.
tomorrow is the first ever LibraryCamp at IL and i’m really looking forward to facilitating that with Jenica Rogers.
i’m also giving a talk on cloud computing with Kendra K Levine and Laura Harris.
finally, i am participating in BattleDecks on tuesday night with folks who are wicked fun.
this is gonna rock.

cc licensed flickr photo shared by kendrak

Internet Librarian is holding it’s first unconference/library camp/barcamp session – and you should be there!

Jenica Rogers and i will be facilitating Library Camp Monterey, the morning of October 24, 2009 in the Monterey Public Library, and we’d be thrilled to have all of you join us.

This will be an interactive discussion about people, technology, and libraries. Bring your war stories and your questions and be prepared to share as this is definitely NOT a “sage on the stage” event. (PowerPoints are forbidden!) This unstructured conversation may range from web development to info commons to everything in between, in all types of libraries.

Head over to the wiki to add your name and any topics that you’d like to discuss.

See you October 24th!

i’m in town for the SLA Centennial Conference. i love the SLA conferences – it’s always wild to meet librarians who work in “non-traditional” gigs. this year i’m on the boards of two divisions – IT and Academic – so i’ll be getting my first glimpse at the inner machinations of things.

more soon!

there are still spots available for the ETIG library camp this coming May 29, 2009 in Montreal (hosted at my loverly place of work – McGill Unversity).
so come hang out with Jessamyn West, John Fink, Jason Hammond, and a bunch of other really awesome folks for one day.
it’s cheap (40$).
we’re going to talk about fun things.
and there’s a surprise gift for those who attend. (seriously, there is. i’m not just saying that.)

hope to see you there!

just arrived at CiL after a pretty bumpy ride on what must have been air canada’s teeniest plane.

off to a good start as i finally got to meet the awesome Karen Schneider while waiting for our shuttle to the hyatt.

this time last year, i was still in school and decided, on one crazy afternoon, to attend CiL. everyone was tweeting about it and it just sounded like a great place to talk to real live librarians about tech in libraries.

i got a gig coordinating the quickie talks in the exhibit hall in exchange for free registration. the lovely Krista let me bunk with her despite not knowing me (at all). and all the tweeps were wonderfully welcoming to me and let me be their groupie for the entire conference. it was incredible.

one year later a lot has changed, but i am still as excited as i was last year (and i’m still bunking with Krista, and i still feel like a groupie). it’ll be different  now that i have a gig and can critically assess ideas and their usefulness at mpow (as opposed to last year when i was just taking it all in becaues i wasn’t sure where i would end up working). i’m really looking forward to stealing everyone’s ideas learning about new services and possibly implementing them chez moi.

oh, i’m also REALLY looking forward to getting my hands on a LSW Shover & Maker button!