Learning the Google Maps API

I've been working on library websites for a long time but as a self taught coder JavaScript has been my stumbling block.  My HTML and CSS skills have allowed me to do most of what I wanted over the years but increasingly of late I have found myself dipping my toes in to the JavaScript waters to get certain things done.

It was high time I got a bit more proficient in JS land and over the last year or so I have taken a more structured approach to tying to teach myself the language.  I've been learning a lot. Part of the what has driven me to learn this stuff is the potential I see in some of the APIs available from different web services that can benefit libraries.

Your website is no place for promoting your services

When a colleague comes to me and asks if we can promote [insert name of thing] on my organisation's website I almost immediately think to myself. 'this is a waste of time'.  The web is such a task oriented medium that by the time a visitor has our website on their screen they already know why they are there and most promotion just gets in the way of what they are trying to do.

OK, that might be a bit of a generalisation, but let me explain...

Digital Engagement in Public Libraries

Better late than never…
On Friday, 27 February 2015 I gave a presentation at the NSW.net Digital Engagement and User Experience Seminar at the State Library of NSW.

Pew Research: a new way of looking at public library engagement in America

I saw this tweet this morning by @myleejoseph and thought it sounded like it was worth a read. Well, it sure was. I encourage you to go and read the whole article.

A new way of looking at public library #engagement in America http://t.co/CRxiC5SECU #libraries
— Mylee Joseph (@myleejoseph) August 7, 2014

Are All You can Read Services like Oyster a Threat to Libraries

I was just reading a post from Gary Price on InfoDocket regarding this article on Publisher's Weekly about how librarians feel about ebooks in 2013. In that article Michael Kelley describes a mood of 'mild optimism and lingering concern'.

These concerns are commonly talked about - the technological barriers forced on library patrons through DRM, above market pricing for libraries and restrictions around concurrent use or number of loans - all of which you can read about in many other places.

Gary Price added some of his own comments and one idea in particular grabbed my attention.

He suggests that one of the threats to libraries from subscription based services like Netflix, Spotify, Amazon and now Oyster and Scribd, is not that it makes the use of ebooks harder for libraries and their customers, but rather that they…

"take mindshare away from the library as a source for all types of content and overall, promote the idea that libraries and librarians are not relevant"
Gary Price: “E-Books in Libraries, 2013 Has Been a Year of Small Victories and Bigger Battles”. InfoDocket, November 2013.