I subscribe to the LibLime news blog which is often announcements of libraries that have decided to go with Koha. It’s an interesting blog, I’m always curious who decides to go to the Open Source route. This latest announcement about the Derby Public Library cheered me because not only are they going with Koha, they’re implementing YakPac which is a kid-specific OPAC that still has a huge degree of functionality. I show it off a lot in my 2.0 talks because it’s engaging and entertaining and represents the answer to the question “how far can you go with the OPAC?” without a lot of bells and whistles, just fun easy-to-use design.
private party at your library
I like this video of someone rocking out at a public PC at a library even more because I have no idea what the comments are saying. [lisnews]
new eyes on old organizations
I always try to read at least a few library student blogs, because I think having a new set of eyes on some of the things we’ve been doing for years is often useful. Graham Lavender just went to an IFLA conference and I found that his experiences mirror my own feelings about my first national ALA conference. Librarians: friendly, love to dance. Really.
I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting of the Conference of Directors of National Libraries, where the head librarians from over 50 countries sat around a table and each had a tiny little flag at their seat, which is exactly what I imagine the UN must be like. Afterwards, some of them stayed behind to have a glass of wine with the students (there were seven of us, one from each library school in Canada), and it was all very casual and friendly.
library cartoon
RIP MáirÃn O’Byrne, Dublin city librarian
I am a sucker for these sweet obituaries of librarians. MáirÃn O’Byrne not only beefed up the libraries in Dublin city and county, she was very professionally active and provided home and hearth to many members of her family who were also involved in good works. We should all be so lucky to be so fondly remembered. [thanks eoin]