I found this image at and I thought it was quite funny and interesting.

Someone just made me aware of the following infographic on wikipedia and I thought I would share it here. I found it quite interesting. Especially the part that compares wikipedia with college textbooks and other learning materials. In the past librarians have really been against wikipedia. However, it seems that maybe it’s not so bad after all?

Via: Open-Site.org

I attended the Handheld Librarian conference about 3 weeks ago. It was broadcast over the web and they covered a lot of great things.

Here are a few of the things that really hit me:

1. Mobile marketing is not just about the size of the phone or tablet. There are lots of other things to consider too, such as location, privacy, applications, web connections and speed and more.

2. QR Codes- We are not using them in libraries at anywhere near their full potential. I walked away with a lot more ideas on how to use them. Some of these included: placing them inside the library catalog, linking to subject guides and placing the codes on the shelves near the materials about that subject, using them near the physical journals to link out to the online versions, connecting the codes with mini surveys asking students to share their opinions and more.

3. Ebooks- Ideas on how to promote them more, how to advocate for more of them that are free of direct management rights and therefore can be used on all platforms and more.

Here are the slides from the keynote speech.

In keeping with tradition here are my top 10 social media and libraries predictions for 2012.

1. We will see a sharp increase in the number of libraries that have mobile friendly websites or library related applications for mobile phones.

2. More libraries will use youtube videos and other videos as a marketing channel and as an education medium.

3. We will see an increase in libraries using social media to educate rather than just to market resources and services.

4. Google Plus will increase in popularity and more libraries will develop pages on the site although Google Plus will still not be as popular as facebook.

5. More libraries will seek ways to create mobile apps for various uses and not just for the library website.

6. As more database vendors create mobile apps, libraries will be able to offer more services to patrons via mobile.

7. Book review sites such as Goodreads and Library Thing will be used by more libraries as tools for offering book reviews and for locating new books to read.

8. Libraries will adapt more open source programs for all aspects of running the library.

9. More libraries will find ways to use online gaming as a marketing and educational tool.

10. More libraries will use Google apps for a variety of functions including email.

What am I missing?

Have you considered using pinterest for your library? Pinterest is a new site within the past 6 months and yet it is already getting more traffic than the crafting site Etsy. I personally joined about 6 weeks ago and I’m having quite a bit of fun and getting some interesting connecting and results with my home business. I personally think that Pinterest could be quite useful for public libraries, museum libraries and other libraries that have a large public audience. Since I work for a small college library, I don’t see it really being that beneficial for us but I might try it. In any case here are some ideas about how libraries could generate interest via Pinterest.

1. Create a boards for new books that your library has received within the past few weeks or months.
2. Create boards to promote activities or programs with links to learn more and pictures of the activity or program.
3. Create boards for each one of your major collections and share the most popular items as pins.
4. Create boards with pins for your library displays or rare collections.
5. Create boards with pins to promote your movies and other media.
6. Share your boards on your library facebook and twitter.

Other ideas on how to use Pinterest for libraries?

Connect with me on Pinterest.

How many academic libraries have you visited on facebook? If you work for an academic library, does your library have a facebook fan page? How active is it?

I found this very interesting survey about academic libraries on facebook.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.

Have you used cloud computing in your library? My library isn’t there yet and I don’t know when we will be. In fact, we are just starting to learn about it. I found this useful post and presentation on Ilibrarian.

21 Useful Cloud Computing Resources for Libraries.

Do libraries really need cloud computing? What about smaller libraries?

My library recently did a display with library mobile applications. Here are some of the pictures we used so you can see what some of the library applications that are available are.

Our Library Group Study Online Reservation.

World Cat Mobile

Good Reads Mobile

EBSCO Mobile

PubMed Mobile

1. http://creately.com/- a great tool for creating online diagrams.

2.http://mind42.com- the best tool for mind mapping I’ve found. Create them yourself, edit and share with in groups and more.

3. http://www.tagxedo.com/- create word cloud based info-graphics

4. http://visual.ly/- create visually appealing info-graphics and share what you have already created with everyone.

5. http://www.gapminder.org/- Explore the world’s most important trends.

6. http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/- create visualizations and data sets using a variety of options.

7. https://cacoo.com/- create diagrams online with real time collaboration.

8. http://www.mindomo.com/- mind mapping made easy

9. http://charts.hohli.com- create a variety of online charts

10. http://www.sacmeq.org/statplanet/- a visual data and map making application

Have you used any of these? If so, which is your favorite?