twitter mirror

The image on the left shows a Twitter mirror at Protiotype which took place in August.  It was part of a display of new technology and you could have your experience auto-tweeted.

I thought this would be great at various events, giving a way of providing visual feedback.  You could have a series with people excited by what they are borrowing at the library, or various programming possibilities.

The below image shows me concentrating on reading the text on the twitter mirror

Live from the Twitter Mirror... #Protiotype #SydDes #IoT pic.twitter.com/pgsugjGVZB
— Protiotype (@Protiotype1) August 20, 2014

My review of Games in libraries

Games in Libraries: Essays on Using Play to Connect and Instruct by Breanne A Kirsch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book as it explored games mainly in the context of university libraries. There was a quote from Scott Nicholson, Associate Professor at Syracuse University saying that we need to look as games as "a distinct form of storytelling" and then he highlighted elements of good story telling and draws connections to games. "Storytelling creates a comforting and inviting environment for people to spend time in the library".

The book has chapters which provide overviews and chapters which provide case studies, including what the library learned from the experience of running games programs. It was particularly interesting to see how some of the libraries evaluated the effectiveness of the games. For one it was a measure of who had not previously been in the library.

There is also an extensive resources section which highlights key publications to help libraries explore games. I was thrilled to find that one of my papers was included in this section. It was very kind of the chapter author to include this reference.

While this publication focuses on games in an academic and school library context, there will be much to appeal to public library staff as well. Go and read this book. It also provides suggestions for other key games and library books to explore (so go and read these as well).



View all my reviews

How the British Library supports designers - Inspired by... blog

How the British Library supports designers - Inspired by... blog



Yet more brilliant work by @BL_Creative



This is a lovely way of inspiring people about the collections.

International Games Day at Your Library - Digital scholarship blog

International Games Day at Your Library - Digital scholarship blog



Great to see the involvements of the British Library (and it would be great to be able to go along to these sessions).

Archives Week and Storify

I enjoy a good use of Storify, and this one from the UK National Archives is a lovely one.  It highlights the range of work archives do.  Have a look at their other uses of Storify as well.

location based encouragement to use social media

This sign was in the Wet Tropic World Heritage Area. I like the way they let me know the hashtag, while I was onsite, and how I can connect on facebook. They were efficient on Instagram, as the two images I posted using that hashtag were liked within 24 hours (by this group). There was little mobile coverage in this area,(and mostly no mobile coverage further north) so it was a nice way to let people know about it. I have written blog posts about this before, and I really like location based information.

anticipation, through signs

This sign was at the Nerada Tea Estate near Malanda, Queensland. I had been passing other signs which were building anticipation (but not where I could safely photograph them). This one was near the car park, and just hit the spot.

RA for All: Soapbox Rant About Judgemental RA Librarians by Becky Spratford

RA for All: Soapbox Rant About Judgemental RA Librarians: Those of you who know me, even a little, know that I am not a person who is ashamed to state my opinion, even if it means disagreeing with a...



This is a wonderful blog post by Becky Spratford, a very skilled and knowledgable librarian.  Read her post - and think about your collection, display and readers advisory strategies (and think about what you will suggest to readers and how you will do it).  I was so exited about this post I not only tweeted it, I am reblogging it here.

local studies at the supermarket - in Mossman, Queensland

These two photographs show part of the entrance to Woolworths at Mossman in Queensland. I was interested seeing the local studies information as I walked in, as I have not noticed it in other supermarkets. It seemed an interesting inclusion.

City Library, Cairns Libraries

This shows the entrance the library, and exhibition currently on. The halloween display was all through the library.  It was a 1920s building which had a refurbishment opening up the walls - into lots of glass.  It was a well used library.
 
This shows a nice seating area in the library.
This was a very impressive exhibition. It had lots of children using it, and so I could not photograph it for a while. You can see more photographs of the library here.