Sexier than a Librarian - Anyone Boycotting?

Since I wrote last week about one person's call to boycott because of the "Sexier than a librarian" slogan, I've had people asking me how my boycott is going. Just wanted to point out I never said I would be following any boycott myself. I was actually asking what all of *you* thought about it. I don't actually know of any boycott taking place. And I don't feel quite so strongly as to need to take a stand one way or another.

Guess I was just playing devil's advocate, stirring up trouble.

NE2007: Libraries Without Borders 2 - less than a month away!

I can't believe NE2007: Libraries Without Borders 2 is less than a month away! I am both in awe that we are so close, and yet can't wait for it to get here so we can see everyone come together!

There is still room if you haven't registered--don't delay! Big, Fat, Hairy Registration info.

Don't forget to stay current with our blog http://librarieswithoutborders.wordpress.com and contribute to the wiki http://librarieswithoutborders.pbwiki.com .

I have to tell you, I have been teaching librarians how to use wikis through my continuing ed course at U of T, and everyone is so surprised at how easy setting up a whole wiki is. So, editing a page or two should be a piece of cake, right? But if you have any questions, please do let me know.

See you in Toronto!

Cheers!
Connie

SLAW Column: Portals Revisited by Joel Alleyne

SLAW blog now features a regular column in the right sidebar of the column website. In the current column, Portals Revisited Joel Alleyne examines the basic principles concerning portals that were de rigueur eight years ago, and explains how these principles hold or have progressed today.

This is a terrific feature on SLAW. I look forward to seeing what future columnists have in store for us!

Carnival of the Infosciences #79 at Libraryola

Carnival of the Infosciences #79 was posted earlier today over at the Libraryola blog by Chris Zammarelli. He's done a fantastic round-up of the latest thinking and issues in librarianship, including lots of discussion and consideration of the new social networking tools. I haven't yet read through it all yet, but this is definitely a must-read issue.

It seems that now the summer is winding down, people are being introspective and have a good, long look at themselves, the profession, and where we are all going. This is great stuff--I haven't seen quite this much deep thinking about librarianship in a very long time, to be honest.

Yahoo! Mash

I have posted a basic write-up of the new Yahoo! social network tool Mash over at SLAW, including a link to a screen cast demo of the new tool from UK law blogger Lo-Fi Librarian.

FIS, U of T: Social Networking Tools: Hands on Learning

Tomorrow will be my third time teaching the new FIS course Social Networking Tools: Hands on Learning. Each time I teach it, it gets that much better.

We've had some wonderfully diverse groups out thus far. Notably a lot of public libraries seem to be exploring the Web 2.0 social networking spaces.

We are in the process of booking this class to be held in Ottawa, hopefully in November. Unfortunately I have too many conferences happening in October to run it sooner.

I am excited about teaching it in Ottawa! Please keep an eye on the FIS website for news.

Are there related courses you would like to see? Please either let me know, or let Eva Kupidura at the Professional Learning Centre know. She'd love your input.

Backbone Magazine on Networking + Tips for Staying Safe on the Internet

The latest issue of Backbone Magazine has an article on networking called Your next big prospect is at LinkedIn or Facebook by Danny Bradbury.

In addition to LinkedIn and Facebook, the article talks about an up-and-coming networking tool which I hadn't heard of before, Visible Path. Will have to check into it. (Note it is accidentally called Visual Path at least once in the article which threw me off on a wild goose chase).

This article points out dangers of social networking tools from the business point of view. These include:

-not being able to separate clients and contacts one from the other. It is all just one big "pot" of contacts and they all can see each other;
- because of the overlap in social and business uses, those using something like Facebook early in life for fun may have those party photos come back to haunt them when they are job hunting
- many people using social networking tools are a little more open with details of their lives. Someone could go from site to site and gather a complete profile.
- it allows people to be found a easily recruited.

One tip for anyone concerned about compiling information about them and using it nefariously: think about what key information someone would need to locate your home, your family members, or to commit identity theft. Make a mental note to never reveal those pieces of information in public forums or to strangers online. For me this includes not talking about family members, not revealing family members' names, not talking specifically about where I live, and to not post my birthday on Facebook. There are times I have been tempted to post little comments on Twitter that might reveal some of this information, but have held myself back from doing so.

I am curious what other tips people have for staying safe on the 'Net?

Sexier Than a Librarian? (How Can That Be?!?)

Steven Cohen over at Library Stuff has been tracking photos of the ad campaign for Sony Reader. The catch-line is "Sexier Than a Librarian." Flickr denizen ATIS547 is calling for a boycott of the Reader. Do you agree?

See: blog post, blog post, blog post.

Incidentally, I can't find the new reader on the Canadian Sony website. Not sure if I should complain....

Have Your Registered Yet?? NE2007 - Libraries Without Borders 2, Toronto, Oct. 17-20, 2007

Have you registered yet for the 4th Northeast Regional Law Libraries Meeting (NE2007)?? Time is running out!

Our theme is Libraries Without Borders 2, and it is gearing up to be THE outstanding learning, networking, must-attend event for 2007. Just a few of the many highlights:

• A grand opening reception at the Legislative Building at Queen's Park. This is home to the Ontario Legislative Assembly, and an impressive building built in 1893, surrounded by park and University of Toronto campus.
• Keynote by Michael Ignatieff, internationally renowned academic, journalist, commentator, intellectual, and specialist in human rights and international affairs.
• Challenging sessions on the law library profession, roles and responsibilities as well as substantive legal research topics with an international, "cross-border" twist.
• Plenary session on the future of legal information and law publishing called Pipe Dream to Pipeline. We have invited some of the industry leaders to look into their crystal balls and tell us what they see.
  
• Outstanding speakers Claire Germain, Gayle Lynn-Nelson, Sabrina Pacifici, Vicki Whitmell, Molly Brownfield, Diane Goldstein, Steven Lastres, Donna Purvis, and many, many more!
• Something we call the TALL Tower Tours, tour of some of the stellar law firm libraries from our host association, the Toronto Association of Law Libraries.
• Closing banquet--time to catch up with friends, old and new, and enjoy fine food and great music!

I am pleased to be co-chairing this fantastic event. This is the joint regional meeting of nine chapters of the American Association of Law Libraries plus the Toronto Association of Law Libraries.

Key web spaces:

• Main website - www.librarieswithoutborder.net
• Program
• Register!
  
• Hotel info
• Blog - librarieswithoutborders.wordpress.com - the latest scoop!
• Wiki - librarieswithoutborders.pbwiki.com - let everyone know you are going, post questions and info!
  

This is the must-attend event of 2007. Will I be seeing you there??

Podcamp Boston 2 - October 26 to 28, 2007

Podcamp was started last year in Boston, and the second Podcamp Boston is taking place at the end of October. I participated in Podcamp Toronto in February (February!) and it was a pure BLAST. I met a lot of people with whom I have kept in contact via social media (blogs, podcasts, Twitter, Facebook) and they have been a fantastic inspiration to me. I have just signed up for the free registration. Now I have to work on hotel and transportation.

You do NOT need to be a podcaster to attend a PodCamp. If you’re interested in podcasting, blogging, social networking and social media, if you’re a podsafe musician (or want to be), or just someone curious about podcasting and new media, then please join us — and bring a friend or colleague.

I Know What I Did This Summer

....and what a summer it has been! No doubt you have expected me to have been in vacation mode, with my blogging taking a back seat to summer sun. Unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth. Summer 2007 has been unusual in that I have not slowed down as I usually do to enjoy the season. I have been pushing through on a number of projects. I now finally get to report back on a few of them:

• First and foremost has been the 4th Northeast Regional Law Libraries Meeting ("NE2007") being held in Toronto October 17 - 20, 2007, which I have been co-chairing along with Steve Weiter from Rochester, NY. Our conference title and theme is Libraries Without Borders II, playing off the last conference held in 1996. Working on this has been a bit like working on a large train. It took a little while to get going since we started working on it 3 1/2 years ago, but now it is full steam ahead! I am just trying to hold on and not get crushed. hahahaha!! We have a fantastic program lined up. I strongly urge you to have a look at the website http://www.librarieswithoutborders.net . News is being posted at our blog http://librarieswithoutborders.wordpress.com and we've created a wiki for participants to post and interact at http://librarieswithoutborders.pbwiki.com . I will be blogging more about this in future posts as I cajole you into attending. ;-)
• I have been teaching a one-day social networking tools course at the Professional Learning Centre, Faculty of Information Studies, University of Toronto. The deal is I was supposed to promote it via this blog, but it filled up so fast I didn't even get a chance to tell you, dear readers, about it before it was full. Much to my surprise! We have run classes on August 9th and 23rd. The next one is slated for September 14th and I believe that one is now sold out as well. Wow! More about that later.
• To be able to teach that course, I have been immersing myself in social networking tools such as Facebook, Google Reader and del.icio.us. If you have been in those spaces you may have seen me. I hope to have some links and observations to share with you as I go along. In some ways at least two of these have started to replace my link blogging over at Connie Crosby Links. This was not part of any sort of purposeful web strategy, but a natural progression. I still have to consider the implications for this blog site.
• I have been participating in the ebb and flow of life and "microblogging" over on Twitter. If you would like to follow along my "tweets", please feel free to find me--I go by connieblogger. (Hint: if you want me to reciprocate and follow you on Twitter, you need to put something meaningful into your profile so that I recognize you or see something we have in common).
• It has been a hectic summer at work. We have been re-evaluating our projects and services at the same time as welcoming articling students into our orientation program mid-summer. Not an easy feat!

My co-workers deserve a lot of credit, working with me and putting up with my periodic comings and goings as I take time off for teaching and meetings. I've done my best to be very present this summer during our changes. If anything has suffered, I would say it has probably been my blogging. Getting home in the evenings, I have barely had the energy to fire up the macbook much less think about putting two words coherently together.

Which reminds me, I have been also neglecting my column on LLRX.com. Owner/editor Sabrina Pacifici has not only been patient and understanding with my many excuses, but also been a strong personal support to me. I have at least a column or two buzzing in my brain after this summer of working and thinking, so I hope to rectify that shortly.

So, now, back to our regularly scheduled program! Happy reading, and I hope to be a little more connected all of you going forward.

Cheers,
Connie

SLAW: Parliament Poised to Prorogue

I blogged earlier today over at SLAW about Canadian Parliament getting ready to prorogue.

SLAW Being Re-Launched

Tonight as I write this, some strange and interesting things are happening over at SLAW. SLAW, for those of you who do not keep track of such things, is a co-operative Canadian web log on law and technology (and a whole lot of other things). I have been a core contributor since its inception. I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of this premier law blogging initiative.

Simon Fodden, our fearless leader, is launching a redesign of the site tonight. It is something he has been working on all summer. He has hinted at some of the changes, but the contributors really only know piecemeal what is to come. In an email message to the contributors tonight he said: "All should be well--nay, much better than well--by the morning." So we wait, watching features and strange images come and go on the site.

He also shared a German saying I hadn't encountered before which I quite like: "Now comes the moment when the monkey leaps into the water and risks his life."

I can't wait to see the new SLAW. Swim, little monkey, swim!!

UPDATE: Well, it appears the monkey has swum back to the shore. Simon reports that he had the change part-way done, but has more work to do. So, for now our beloved SLAW looks unchanged. But I'm sure he'll get there soon.

Carnival of the Infosciences #78 has been posted

The latest installment of the Carnival of the Infosciences has now been posted over at DIYLibrarian. This is a great summary of some of the key posts in the biblioblosphere from the past couple of weeks.

Annotated Ontario Mental Health Statutes - New Publisher

The Annotated Ontario Mental Health Statutes, 4th edition, by the Hon. Richard D. Schneider, is now being published by Irwin Law. This title was previously published by Thomson Carswell. If you had it on standing order, you may have missed the switch as previous editions are still being advertised on the Carswell website.

The author has two other books on mental health currently published by Irwin Law.