Lee Rainie Keynote

Yes, Lee. We know you are charming and smart and love librarians. We appreciate that. Especially the results from the last Pew survey: LIBRARIANS ROCK.

But seriously, this is what fascinated me and leads right into the SCLS Handheld Libraries conference on April 22nd. 78% of Americans have cellphones. CELLPHONES HAVE TURNED AROUND THE INFORMATION DIVIDE. Cellphone owners are using their devices to connect wirelessly to the internet. Email is important to them, and THEY ARE USING THE INTERNET TO STORE INFORMATION using their cellphones.

So how can libraries have a no cell phone policy? People are talking on cell phones, and they are USING THEM TO ACCESS THE INTERNET, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY HAVE NO COMPUTER AT HOME!!!!

If you are not seeing this in your library, it may be due to the prevalence of the image above.

We need to wake up and smell the coffee, which by the way is Starbucks at the conference.

Blogs and Wikis: What's the Difference?

Yesterday, Samantha and I conducted a workshop for librarians in Suffolk County on blogs and wikis. We discussed the differences between blogs and wikis as well as the differences they can make for both staff and patrons. It was a true collaborative effort, first between Samantha and me, and then between the audience and the presenters. We created the slides on Google documents so that we could share and edit simultaneously. We then uploaded the presentation in both Google Documents and SlideShare, so that it is readily available. The presentation was videotaped and should be available shortly via streaming video or DVD from SCLS.