Wrapping it up

This semester I made an attempt to talk about dissemination and how it relates to information science and librarianship. I discussed some traditional approaches to dissemination: information policy, library ethics, and patron privacy. But I discussed some off-the-cuff topics such as: library blogs, library outreach. I even touched on choosing a better web browser (Choose Firefox!), dating in a library and who to call in an emergency (Ask-a-Librarian).

This was only a small look from a beginning student. There is so much more to discuss in the information science and dissemination field that a semester of studies can be dedicated to this.

I hope it has been interesting for you and that you have taken away a little something from this experience. I know I have!

Thank you for visiting!!

Traci

What....I can get a date at the library??

I am a happily married girl, so I don't have to worry about it anymore, but I remember the time it was hard to find a date. A girl could look everywhere: the grocery store, their favorite bar, church, friends, the horrible blind dates. Later, Internet personal sites became popular (admittedly, that is where I met my husband) and the dating world changed. Around that time an invention called Speed Dating became popular. Most of us know the idea, so I won't elaborate, but even libraries are jumping on the wagon with this one.

The local library, where I live, Alachua County, offers this occasionally at their library. In fact, last time I was at my local branch library, I noticed the invitation.

"Romance by the book" is a little different and asks book lovers to come to the library prepared to discuss their favorite book.

I'm not sure if any matches were successful but you can't help but admire the library's attempt at incorporating this interesting twist.

Interesting, a quick Google search of speed dating library returns over 500,000 hits...hmm, maybe they are on to something.

Citations
Library to hold 'Romance By the Book' speed dating event for book lovers. (26 April, 2007). Retrieved July 13, 2008 from website: http://www.aclib.us/index.php?site_area=about_the_library&page=news&item=00111

Who ya gonna call...

I know I'm not the only one that has trouble finding information on something important. Sometimes the Internet just doesn't help you as much as it should. Sometimes virtual sources don't get you to the exact information you are looking for. Sometimes people just don't know where to start. That's where an helpful service comes into play.

Florida has a service called "Ask a Librarian" that is operated through a joint project with the Tampa Bay Library Consortium and the College Center for Library Automation. People anywhere in Florida can find answers to their questions in minutes and can forget about navigating through a bunch of websites that probably wouldn't be helpful anyway (Ask a librarian).

Since this is a blog about dissemation, I am doing my part in "spreading the word". So, when you are really down on your luck and can't the info you need, you can always visit this website:

http://www.askalibrarian.org/aal.asp

Citations
Ask a Librarian. Retrieved July 11, 2008 from website: http://info.askalibrarian.org/index.asp

Mozilla Firefox - A librarians dream tool

A million years ago (really less than two) I was using this ancient tool called Internet Explorer as my web browser. IE and I were pretty good friends. She guided me to the right websites, let me use Google to find my desired information, basically sustained me for many years.

But one day, I awoke to this amazing invention called Mozilla Firefox. What is Mozilla...not a large animal scaling a building towards a cute blonde, but an amazing technological tool that lets you surf the Internet and personalize it to your heart's content.

I knew there would be research on Mozilla, but I didn't realize exactly how much.

Rensberger (2005) talks about his introduction to Firefox after a conversation with his editor. In January 2005, Firefox had over 20 million downloads (Rensberger, 2005). Rensberger (2005) also points out Firefox’s speed and availability in 27 languages – this was in 2005, now Firefox is available in 33 languages (my quick count on their website).

Now don’t get me wrong, Internet Explorer is fine and dandy, but it isn’t nearly as helpful or cool as Firefox.

Alright, Traci – enough gushing about this little invention. Why can this web browser help me. Francoeur (2006) explains this much better than I ever could when referencing the add-on programs available through the free-open source Mozilla Foundation “these add-on programs ...turn an elegant browser into a handy Swiss Army tool right at the reference desk” (p. 166).

Okay, so what does this have to do with dissemination. Well, a lot actually, silly. The faster and easier a library or information science professional can find the information the better for the patron, and with tools incorporated into Firefox information is readily available for the informed and experienced information professional. Now, I know it isn't easy to change, but if you haven't - you are really, really missing out!!

Citations
Francoeur, S. (2006). Firefox at the Reference Desk. Library Journal, 131(20), 166.

Rensberger, D. (2005). Firefox: An Alternative Browser to Theirs. Searcher 13(5), 17-20

Side note: I was just thinking about this old New York Times newspaper article I read tonight. I remembered that I saved it to my favorites and went to retrieve it tonight. Funny aside, it was published exactly one year ago today. A hipper crowd of shushers focuses on the new generation of librarians and their love of information. With this new generation coming in (me, one day too, I hope!) to the library and information science field, there are bound to be changes and different technology incorporations. I mentioned in a previous post about libraries and their use of blogs and podcasts, but I've yet to share some of my favorites. Firefox makes it super easy to get your favorite podcasts and RSS feeds through Sage (a Firefox add-on) - another reason why I absolutely love Firefox!

Quick note about the pictures on this blog

Unless stated otherwise and unless taken by me or of me...all the pictures on this blog were taken from Flickr. Flickr encourages photo sharing and when photos are uploaded, users give permission for others to use their photographs. Flickr actually uses "metadata" in their organization and users are asked to help in organizing information and sharing.