Aaron details more on what he is doing with Flickr at his library. Since part of my job over my last six weeks at the library is to make the web site maintainable by other staff, I’ve been looking for ways of simplifying and streamlining web updating processes. I installed WordPress so even though my library doesn’t have a blog yet — we’re still getting staff on email, everything in due time — they do have a simple web interface for editing and uploading new content. Flickr will automatically crop photos to 75×75, among other sizes, so I built that size image into our home page. Flickr gives people easy URLs for uploaded images and has even simpler ways of showing revolving images on a non-blog site via a badge system they concocted. Did I mention that it’s free for basic users? I don’t own Flickr stock or anything, I’m just always really happy to see clean usable tools that are feature-rich enough for me and yet easy enough to use and understand for my Mom or the folks from work.
Author: jessamyn
freedom to read week
We have Banned Books Week, Canada has Freedom to Read Week [which started yesterday]. What’s the difference? Just look at the two web sites and think about the differences in presentation and approach. Think about which event makes you feel more included, or piques your interest more.
a few more neat web tricks with flickr
Two more little Flickr exercises and then I promise I’ll leave it alone: Eric is looking for librarians to send postcards to his son Odin to encourage a love of reading. I sent mine. Also, I installed a “safari theme” for my Firefox browser and am finding it to my liking. How is it like and not like Safari proper? See this little graphic for some point by point comparison.
hi – 18feb
Hi. Aaron’s library and my library are now friends on Flickr. In other tech news, I have to apologize for not paying much attention to the newish podcasting craze sweeping the blogosphere out here, though I hear that Lessig has finally gotten on the bandwagon. In short, the reason I like tech tools like RSS and del.icio.us and feedster is that they allow me to take in news fast and scan-like, faster even than it takes to write it down. When I want to interact with information slowly, I’ll read a book. I know many people listen to the radio recreationally and so podcasting probably works for them. For me, taking in information in a 1 minute=1 minute ratio actually slows me down. I don’t mean to sound all “oh listen to me, I’m so busy” because I’m not. I have a lot of leisure time. I don’t have information overload. I enjoy the amount of media I interact with. However, I usually listen to the radio, or new music, or silence when I’m working. My multitasking does not extend to the audible realm. I’m looking forward to reading what others have to write about podcasting.
take this survey
Any librarians who got their degree in 1996 or after [that’s me, is it you?] please take a few minutes to take this survey about new librarians and the five year itch.