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Being a librarian is one of the best careers, according to US News & World Report. I agree. At the same time being a small business owner is one of the most overrated careers. I think they’re on target with that too.

But combine the two and it’s all good! There are lots of opportunities for librarians to provide consulting and training services to other librarians, schools, non-profits and the business world. If there’s something you particularly love to do (and you’re good at it!) (more…)

Registration is now open for the first library unconference in upstate NY, being held in Syracuse on March 4-5.

• March 4 - Unconference on the Future of Libraries
• March 5 - Collection Development Conference

So what’s an unconference? Sounds odd at first, but it’s a conference where the participants decide what topics will be discussed and everyone shares and learns from each other.

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Do you read Harvey Mackay’s weekly column “On Business“? It’s always full of great advice on running your business better. There’s nothing cut-throat, devious or flashy in his advice and that’s why I like it. His advice is based on his own success in business and is centered on meeting customer needs. Find out what the customer wants, give them more than they asked for and they’ll come back for more. (Well, that’s my capsule summary!) His advice translates so well to library service.

This week’s column (Jan 13, 2008) ended with this advice about technology:

The Internet is like the computer was before it. Both are tools. They can revolutionize how you administer and publicize your business, regardless of the size of your bottom line. But there is no substitute for the product itself. Stay abreast of the trends, but stick to the business of keeping your core products and services competitive.

Such a good reminder for techy geeky me! Even though I love technology (more…)

NYLINK is once again providing discounted registration to their members. Info on the NYLINK web site.

There’s a new Summer Reading community on ning.com. If you’re not familiar with ning.com, it’s a free service that hosts thousands of special interest groups where members share ideas through discussion forums, photos, videos, etc. There are already many popular library and education related groups on ning.com.

The purpose of the Summer Reading ning group is simply to share ideas for summer reading programs in libraries and connect librarians around the country and the world.

http://summerreading.ning.com/

If you’re not familiar with navigating around a ‘ning’ community, there is some help in the discussion forum when you login. Sign up and take it for a spin. Ideas & suggestions are most welcome. If you’re interested in helping to administer the group, please let me know.

Wow, how’d I miss this? Starting sometime in Dec, flickr started offering a nice statistics page for users who opt in. You can sort your photos by: total # of views for all time, total views last week and total views yesterday. Also sortable by: photos that have been ‘favorited’ by others and “interestingness”. There’s a list of referring web sites too.

Clicking on photo thumbnail displays data for (more…)