The Minnesota Digital Library was chosen to be a key early contributor to the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA). The groundbreaking project aims to make our nation’s collections of significance to the study of American life digital, searchable, and accessible to the public. Read the press release at MDL’s homepage: http://www.mndigital.org
Tag Archives: Food for Thought
Rocori School District in the News!
Rocori School District made the news via Network World this week! Rocori’s Technical Director, Brian Michalski, was interviewed regarding his approach to launching a new virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to cut down on costs in the school’s 13 computer labs. Now, rather than operating Windows on each desktop, they’re utilizing VDI. To learn more about this approach, view the article: School District Opts for VDI in Computer Labs.
OCLC and Goodreads
My enjoyment and use of Goodreads continues, and I am encouraging family members, friends, and colleagues who count on me as their readers advisor to join me on Goodreads. Have you noticed that through a partnership with OCLC (since 2007), you can pretty painlessly link to your home library to see if the item you are longing for on your “to-read list” is 
available? It makes perfect sense for the two entities to partner up, and this union has provided greater visibility for libraries. A new agreement pledges to improve Goodreads members’ experience of finding fresh, new things to read through libraries. It will also provide libraries with a way to reach this key group of dedicated readers through social media. Since 2007, Goodreads has sent more than 5 million web referrals to WorldCat, and it is hopeful that the expanded partnership will increase that number.
Go to http://tinyurl.com/co75gl8 for the minute details of this expanded partnership between OCLC and Goodreads.
Kansas State Library Launches Facebook Campaign
Have you seen posts on Facebook telling you which books are either unavailable as library ebooks, or how they are being priced for libraries? I love this smart social media campaign to make the library and ebook challenge real and understandable to the end user! Haven’t seen it? Read on…
The Kansas State Library has launched a social media campaign against what it says are unfair practices to keep bestselling electronic books out of the hands of libraries and their patrons. Library officials have started a page on Facebook, www.facebook.com/thebig6ebooks, “bringing attention to the titles publishers are refusing to sell (as) e-books to libraries, price gouging or limiting checkouts per copy purchased.” Get more detail at http://tinyurl.com/bvh7sc3, home of the Wichita Eagle, Nov. 12, 2012.
14 Ways Public Libraries Are Good for the Country
An oldie but a goodie, this information has been offered before in other venues. It resides on the iLoveLibraries.org site (an initiative of the American Library Association). This little list is a great source to review so you have a solid set of talking points as we move into new relationships with legislators. You always need to have your “elevator speech” ready!
It is sometimes harder (takes more time too) to explain and speak to the virtues and issues of special, school, and academic libraries, because without a full explanation about funding streams and mission, it is easy jump to a conclusion of redundancy. But most legislators fully understand public libraries, a well-loved, well understood concept. The concise little list of 14 is available at http://tinyurl.com/8ryvrfx
*The list linked to in this post originally appeared in the Librarians Books of Lists (Chicago: ALA Editions, 2010).