A recent article in the New York Times featured information about putting a bar code on places.  I think this would be an easy fun way to reach out to the more technologically inclined patrons in your community.  All you have to do is decide what information you want to put in your barcode (a URL,Text(250 char.), Phone Number, or SMS) and enter the information at a site like Kaywa which will then generate your free bar code which can be placed near the entrance to your library.  You can use this to promote events, link people to your events webpage, or make announcements. All it costs is a few minutes of your time, a piece of paper, ink, and some tape.

There was also an interesting article on WIRED: How the iPhone Could Reboot Education by Brian X. Chen.  While I do not think that paper books will go away, I do think it is important to engage students in a way that shows we are paying attention to their interests, and how they learn.  Another interesting article, from Library Journal, covers the new EBSCOhost Mobile, and Summon mobile, smartphone interfaces to their electronic resources.

There is a large focus, and rightly so, on how technology changes interactions with our patrons, but what about how it changes the interactions between librarians?  Without the advances in technology we would not have listserves, Twitter topics (#librarians, #cataloging), or Facebook pages. Check out Library Web Chic’s recent post: Tools for Remote Collaboration and Interaction, and remember that your fellow librarians are an invaluable resource.

I encourage anyone interested in technology to check out Alan Maynard’s 2020Science.org.  Starting today, Monday December 14, 2009 he will have 10 guest bloggers, with differing points of view, answering the question “How should technology innovation contribute to life in the 21st century?”.


Tips & Tutorials:

7 Tips to Make Your Web Site Mobile-friendly by Igor Faletski

10 LOL Cat Laws of Web Services for Smaller and Underfunded Libraries from the Librarian in Black Sarah Houghton-Jan

50 Free Open Courseware Classes for Web Designers by Best Web Design Schools

Full Web Building Tutorials by W3Schools.com

How to Build a Social Media Cheat Sheet for Any Topic by Marshall Kirkpatrick

How to Embed Almost Anything in your Website from digital inspiration

Modern CSS Layouts: The Essential Characteristics by Zoe Mickley Gillenwater

Web Accessibility from the American Library Association

W-E-B-S-I-T-E, Find Out What It Means To Me by Brett Bonfield

Five Essential Apps for Your Nonprofit Facebook Page provides guidance on how to market your nonprofit(library) on Facebook more effectively.

Six Things Libraries Should Tweet by Andy

100 Ways to Use Twitter in Your Library by Mobile Libraries

Twitter for Organizations by the Lowrider Librarian.


Leaders of Academic Libraries:

Bookless Libraries? by Steve Kolowich

Libraries of the Future from Inside Higher Ed

View from the Trenches:

Reviving the Academic Library by Johann Neem

The Hyperlinked Library in Times of Change and Challenge by Michael Stephens


Sources of News & Information

ACRL Tech Connect
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/proftools/techconnect/index.cfm

Campus Technology
http://campustechnology.com – Website
http://campustechnology.com/RSS-Feeds/All-Articles.aspx – RSS Feed

David Lee King
http://www.davidleeking.com/ – Website
http://www.davidleeking.com/feed – RSS Feed

Journal of Information Architecture
http://journalofia.org/

The Librarian in Black Sarah Houghton-Jan
http://librarianinblack.net/ – Website
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Librarianinblack – Choose Your RSS Feed Here

Library Web Chic
http://www.librarywebchic.net/

Libraryman
http://www.libraryman.com – Website
http://www.libraryman.com/blog/feed/ – RSS Feed

Library Tech Talk
http://libtechtalk.wordpress.com/ – Website
http://libtechtalk.wordpress.com/feed/ – RSS Feed

LibWorm: Librarianship RSS Search and Current Awareness
http://www.libworm.com

The Loose Canon Librarian
http://loosecannonlibrarian.net/

Tame the Web
http://tametheweb.com/

TechKNOW a quarterly publication by the Technical Services Division of the Ohio Library Council
http://www.library.kent.edu/page/11226

Web Science Trust
http://webscience.org


Need more ideas of how to combine new technology with library service?  Check out:
Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data
Edited by Nicole C. Engard
ISBN 978-1-57387-372-7
http://books.infotoday.com/books/LibraryMashups.shtml

Who do you look to for technological innovation?  What issues do you find interesting?