The British Museum and the World Cup

Vases from #CRC and #GRE http://t.co/vHCutKeSHe http://t.co/CMf3Al4Z7z #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/3LfDmW47BG
— British Museum (@britishmuseum) June 29, 2014

The British Museum is highlighting collection items which connect to the countries playing in the World Cup.  The above example shows the items for one of the matches today.

Below is an example from another match

Pendants of rulers from #NED and #MEX http://t.co/2rPzpQotWw http://t.co/V6PW3zdveL #WorldCup pic.twitter.com/M3YaFVXTAf
— British Museum (@britishmuseum) June 29, 2014

This is a brilliant way to help people discover what is in their collection.

A page from a book

Horses, almost, at the library

This came through my Flickr stream. It seems a lovely way to promote reading.

You're in the right place

I have seen several photographs of this wall in Chattanooga Public Library.  Big thanks to the people who have photographed it for those of us who have not been there.
I like this wording because it reassures the clients - you are in the right place. Implicit in this is that the folk at the library (with their various qualifications, skills and experience) are there to help you - whatever your questions, interests or service requirements.  It is is a big ask, but - as a client, you are in the right place. There will be people who serve, help, inform...and do this with good grace and using their many skills.  I like the hopefulness and the reassurance.

How I library

I have been following this promotion for a while. How I library is an interesting way of exploring client perspectives, although most of the comments are from library workers so far.  The #howilibrary hashtag would be a nice one to encourage your clients to use when providing feedback about a program or service.  You could promote it along with your own library hashtag for events.  I really like this promotion.

My review of Creativity, Inc - a totally amazing read

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a very impressive book, which has ideas of relevance for all workplaces. It provides a history of Pixar, and through it is advice on how to manage a growing organisation, and one where they very deliberately worked a the organisational culture. Mistakes were made, but they were addressed rather than covered up. One of the strongest ideas coming through this is that people learn together, and there needs to be effective feedback, without reprisals or point scoring. I will be reading this book again, to further explore the ideas within it. It is an enjoyable read, and it makes you think about how to improve your own work place, as ideas from this book would work well in other industries. A very clear point is that it is about finding the solution for your workplace, rather than copying. There is some very helpful information in the Disney/Pixar merge content.

"Just because "failure free" is crucial in some industries does not mean that it should be a goal in all of them. When it comes to creative endeavours, the concept of zero failures is worse than useless. It is counterprodutive."
and later in the book
"Similarly it is not the manager's job to prevent risks. it is the manager's job to make it safe to take them"

Read, enjoy and apply.

Note - I would have liked to include more quotes, but scraping them from the Kindle version was not happening.



View all my reviews

Library as Infrastructure: Places: Design Observer

Library as Infrastructure: Places: Design Observer is an interesting piece with many ideas to consider.

Tweetping

Tweetping shows current twitter activity - and it is beautiful.

Staff skills as the readers advisory promotion

Edmonton Public Library and Multnomah County Library both promote the skills of their staff in providing readers advisory services.  They have different approache which you can look at via the links in the library names.  I would prefer "suggestions" rather than "recommendations" were used, for a range of readers advisory reasons, but they are both impressive promotions.  They show staff skills being able to help clients in a range of ways.  It is a great leveraging of the key assets of any library.  I like the diversity of skills described, and the way you can obtain more information and reading suggestions.  These are key connections.

I also like the way Edmonton Public Library is making it easy to support them, by having this link in the same line as the social media sharing.

National Portrait Gallery on Instagram

 I have only just discovered this lovely Instagram account. I really like the way they are seeking conversation.

recording your community

I really like the way Christchurch City Libraries record what is happening in their community for local studies purposes.  Their Flickr stream shows a range of photographs recording the community and the library - both important areas for local studies recording.  Allen County and Dublin City show other ways of doing this, but Christchurch City Libraries record more of their community.  They also did a summary of their seven years on social media.

Flickr commons

I have a lot of pleasure looking at photographs on Flickr commons.
This is a lovely photograph from the State Library of South Australia.


Interestingly it made me think of this
 And this photograph shows a bicycle rack most work places can only dream of

Welcome to the MCA

This is an interesting list of things to do and not do at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.  Enjoy, ask questions and come back :D

The book to art club

This project is part of the Library as incubator project work.  I have just joined the book to art club. I am not quite sure how it will work, hence joining.  I have borrowed the June book from my local library, but have yet to start to read it.

There are some groups who meet to do the art/craft together but there are also dispersed members.  I am trying it as a way to see how it fits with readers advisory work and makers (and I think it will).  I will write about it in a future post.  The June book is about graffiti so I will be interested to see what (legal) ideas come forth.  There is a back list of titles and a facilitators guide.

my review of The artist's library

The Artist's Library: A Field Guide by Erinn Batykefer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is another new book exploring the area of artists/makers and libraries. The writers of the book manage the excellent Library as incubator project blog. There is a scarcity of writing in this area and this book makes a helpful contribution.

This book seems to be written for library clients/artists/makers, but it can also be used as a source of inspiration and ideas for library staff when developing programs, services and partnerships. There are many examples of how artists work with libraries. There is useful information about copyright and online resources. They explore the "inherently inspiring nature of libraries". Does this describe your library?

The poem by Joseph Mills called If librarians were honest gains a worthy inclusion.

Much of the material has been covered on their blog, but this book bring it together well. The chapters have different themes exploring diverse sources of inspiration and ideas, often within the library. The chapters also include the work of artists relevant to the points being made, and some exercises which artists/makers can do, or which libraries could run as programs or services.

It would work well as a companion volume to Bibliocraft by Jessica Pigza

View all my reviews

Live streaming premium events

The Sydney Opera House has been live streaming some events for a while, or making the events available later on.

They are currently having a series of Beethoven concerts which you can buy tickets for, or watch for free online.  This is impressive.  I am guessing (and it is a guess) that they could be using this as a way to build future audiences on site.  Some libraries are doing this too.

Library consultation by Hennepin County Library

This photograph shows some of the consultation done by Hennepin County Library during the US National Library Week.  You can see more images at this link.
I really like this, and it is a great way to find out how people who use the library think about it.

Another part of this could be taking similar questions to the local park, the farmers markets, and other areas where people who use your library could be.  This could be a way to reach people who use your online resources, but don't go into the buildings.  It could also be a way to let people who don't use your library know about what could be in it for them.

Vivid social media

During Vivid this kind of signage was in the area so you could easily share your images and comments with others.  I like the way it was really easy to see how to share - it helped the conversation.

Tor reread

I have written about the Tor Harry Potter reread before. I am really enjoying it, as it is fascinating reading the books slowly, I am already looking out for other rereads, as it is an interesting experience.

The information in the rereads is very useful for readers advisory services, but they would also good to connect readers to, or to run events in the library to tie in to.

RSS feeds

I was devastated when I heard that Google reader was shutting down. I signed up for some new services to experiment which one would be the happiest solution. One, the Old Reader initially accepted me joining, but then they stopped providing services to new members.  They were overwhelmed and it was understandable.  They look to be accepting new signings now, if you would like to try them.

Feedly, Newsblur, Pulse, Flipboard, and Zite were all tried.

I currently used a combination of Zite and Newsblur. I have concerns about the Zite/Flip amalgamation.

I pay $2 per month for Newsblur, and it it worth it. I like the mobile and desktop version. It is easy to add new feeds, and delete ones I am no longer interested in.  In mostly delete all stories over a day old, to keep what I look at more manageable as I don't always look at it every day.

There is overlap with Zite, but I enjoy the different styles.  I really like Feedly too.  These are not my only sources of sources, of news, but they make a substantial contribution.

Celestial City

I am yet to go to see this wonderful sounding exhibition at the Museum of Sydney, and yet, it has already given me much pleasure as I have walked past the museum and seen the installation of the garden out the front.


It is lovely, and I appreciate the information which is being made available in this way, before I even visit the museum. It is a promotion, but it is also a story, and that is impressive.

Vivid and science

Last week, one of the talks I went to as part of Vivid was about science and illustration. It was fascinating to see that this scientific illustration and animation was all about storytelling. There was a tension between accuracy and interpretation.  You can see the animations shown and how one is used by the CSIRO as well as the work of David Goodsell.

Creating and designing with digital collections

Yesterday I went to a session of this name as part of Vivid. It featured the work of  Sarah Kenderdine (some examples of her work), 

Lucy Simpson and Kate Sweetapple. It was great to hear from all of them, and the diversity of their work was impressive.

With the fabric work of Lucy Simpson  the art/design starts with the stories, and is meant to be used, it seems that though use, stories are added, as people connect the stories of their lives to the stories of the art works.

Kate Sweetapple had wonderful elements of whimsy in her work exploring names and colours.

Sarah Kenderdine's work connects people to places they can't visit, like a cave system in China which has been closed because the visits are causing destruction of the art works which the caves are famous for. There is also lovely work in India, with Europeana, and the Museum ofVictoria.

It also, for me, connected to the work of Jessica Pigza, bringing stories and art together. 

People were being encouraged to use the State Library data - information about this here.

Much to think about. 

Great things happening with The Queenslander

This blog post from the State Library of Queensland tells about the new way of looking at The Queenslander.  It is great work from Mitchell Whitelaw and Geoff Hinchcliffe.  It really a lovely way of exploring this collection.  There a colour search/browse element which is a lot of fun.

You can't always be there...

The National Theatre in England does live streaming of some of their productions.  Earlier this year I saw Coriolanus that way.


This meant I could see the work of Josie Rourke, a totally amazing director, as well as an incredible cast.  It wasn't the same as being there. When I go to the theatre I try to sit in the first few rows from the stage (and I only go to performances with people who enjoy sitting so close to the action), so no live streaming was going to match that, but...it was impressive.  You did feel the energy of the live production, and it enabled me to see a performance which even if I had been in London I may not have been able to see, because the tickets sold out so fast.  It would be great if performances like these could be streamed in more locations.

This highlighted to me the value of streamed library services.  It is not the same as being there, but it can still be really impressive.  Are there library service you can stream to your community?

Look at what Sacramento Public Library is doing.

They have a Game of Thrones hangout coming up you might like to try, with a daytime time zone.

3D printing and history

A few days ago I shared this video on twitter, it is a 3D printing of the crown of Henry VIII.
I shared it because of the history element.  I thought how interesting it would be if schools around the world who had to study history of the Tudors could be able to access this technology as part of learning about the past.  I was interested to receive a very negative tweet about this, which lead to this blog post.

Most students of Tudor history are not going to have the luxury of seeing this crown, or many other historical object up close, and 3D printing is a way to access some elements of history. Imagine being able to hold replicas of key museum items.

The robot tours at the Australian National Museum are another was to get up close to museum materials (and the tours are impressive).

I think using creative approaches to how information is provided are important, and libraries have a key role in that.

143 books to read in summer 2014 - really?

The headline "143 books to read in summer 2014" came through my zite feed and depressed me. I realise that it is a way of saying there are lots of wonderful books to read over the next few months. It briefly made me feel that I was a reader without hope.  I am sure it did not mean to.

I read, but unless they were 143 picture books there is no way I could read 143 books over a few months.  If they are 143 "big fat fantasy" titles, that would be a much longer time.  Looking at the list, and it is an interesting one, they are not titles you could read in 143 evenings (if you were kind of taking a book a day approach).

This is a lovely list, which did not have the desired effect of excitement.  It highlights the challenge of how you promote lots and lots of exciting things.  This headline implied I needed to read them all, but really they were giving me a lovely choice, which it took a while for me to see (being blinded by the inability to read 143 titles in a few months).

Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin and sign language

When you visit the website of the Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin you see a link to gebaerdensprache which takes you to their page about signing services.

It includes the video, shown below as well as information about services to children.


I was impressed to see that they are catering for  section of the community which is often under represented in library services.

Thanks to Google translate for making some of this possible.

Cockatoo Island and social media

Cockatoo Island makes it very clear, almost as soon as you exit the ferry, how you can connect with them in social media.  I really like this.

#blogjune starts today

I am again participating in #blogjune, thanks to this lovely blog post written by @flexnib.  Her enthusiasm for this is infectious.

In previous years I have taken a theme based approach, libraries I would like to visit, inspirations, and signs.  This year will be more general.


I thought starting off happy, was a good start, and I like this video because it shows people so happy to read they are dancing about it.  Feel free to do your own happy dance as part of it.  Yes, this video has a few issues (only reading on paper is shown, and only in English), but I will not be picky as it is a fun video, and simply being able to read is something to dance about.

Happy #blogjune Updated 2 June as the code for the video disappeared.