After a lifetime as a PC user, today I bought a MacBook! I am both excited and nervous, as literally the last time I used a Mac was in the junior high school newspaper club (oh yeah, you remember those little Apple computers!). Needless to say, I’ve had enough experience with PCs, troubleshooting, software, tweaking, security-proofing, and speed enhancing that I could probably guide anyone else making the jump from Apple to PCs. But I am in need of help myself right now!
I will note that I am still the proud owner of an Android phone, and do still support the open development platform in general. And I’m super peeved that most of our library’s audio books are now inaccessible to me. Feh. But…I had it up to here with Windows 7, with HP, and with skeevy Microsoft screwing around with substandard product releases. So, here I am 
If you are a Mac person, please either comment below or email/IM/text/whatever me with any tips you have for a newbie Mac owner, particularly one who is used to running literally everything in a PC platform.
If you have EBSCO databases, and a chat widget for reference services, then check this hot stuff out from Paul Pival on The Distant Librarian: Embedding Chat Widgets within EBSCO Databases. It’s a new feature within EBSCO, and Paul points to step by step instructions on how to do it yourself. Easy peasy!
“So many librarians are steeped in technology that you learn to become a cybrarian. I am a referencce librarian and an instructional librarian. As I’m asked questions–whether I answer them by researching the Web, or talk to you via e-mail–I think of a library now as a place without walls.” –Kay Cutler, University of Virginia Library
I saw this awesome quote in a “Cybrarian” job write-up from 2001 that my librarian colleague Angie Miraflor sent me. It is a pamphlet on Cybrarians, and is part of the Emerging Occupation Brief from Chronicle Guidance Publications. The whole thing is highly amusing. The fact that they isolated Cybrarian as a separate job is awesome. The technologies from 2001 that they chose to highlight as critical to the profession are hilarious: email, CD-ROMs, capital-I “Internet,” and capital-W “Web.”
But for all that, the quote is still a good one…and applies to each and every one of us today. We are all cybrarians. We all work with the technology every day and we all are expected to be as expertly comfortable with the web as we are with our physical collections. Are you comfortable with both? If not, think about some professional development activities that can help you gain that elusive sense of ease. If you need some suggestions, I’m happy to help. Good luck, ye Cybrarians of the world!
Check out my new post on the ALA Learning Blog: 10 Smart Phone Apps to Help You Be a Better Trainer. I give you ten ideas for programs that you can take anywhere with you and make your classes and trainings easier and better. Enjoy!
The next issue of American Libraries has a cover article entitled “10 Technology Ideas Your Library Can Implement Next Week.” Each idea is a portion of text from one of the ten books in the upcoming Neal-Schuman Tech Set series. I am the author of the book on technology training, so be sure to check it out. The ideas are concrete, and while some will certainly take more than a week to implement, you can get started on all of them today
The Internet Librarian 2010 Conference has opened up its call for speakers, so get your proposals in now!
The conference takes place October 24-27, and the theme is Insights, Imagination & Info Pros: Adding Value.
The deadline for proposals is March 27.
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