- Ignoring our Digital Community
David Lee King feels that we, as librarians, are ignoring our digital patrons. I guess I have to say in some ways we are ignoring our digital patrons. But we, as in MPOW, have slowly embraced the Web 2.0 wave and are making in-roads in reaching out to the digital community through our blogs. Of course, there are areas for improvement and I believe we are slowly working towards becoming more attuned to our patrons who live in the digital sphere.
(via Library Revolution)
- An Open Letter to the World, From Your Local Librarian
A humorous insight into the life of a 50-something librarian coping in a digital world. However, I must add that some parts of the letter about the behaviors of patrons are quite true even for public libraries in Singapore such as people coming in 5 minutes before the library closes at 9pm and expecting you to show them all the information they need for their assignment due at midnight. Or looking after your children while they going shopping. I guess those are just some of the downsides of working as a librarian. However, there are upsides as well such as when patrons show their appreciation when you help them with an enquiry or find a book that they were not able to find.
- BookSwim
BookSwim is touted as Netflix for books. So, it works by paying a monthly subscription of US$14.99 per month and then requesting for up to two books at a time that you want to read on their website. The books will then be shipped to your house. And when you are done reading, just put it back in the mail box to be sent back to BookSwim. Anyway, this is only available in the US and I’m not too sure if these would work out in Singapore.
(via Read/WriteWeb)
- Kite Runner’s Afghan child stars forced into hiding
A sad thing to read about. Hopefully, the boys and their families are now a lot safer somewhere in United Arab Emirates.