Technology Festival

On Wednesday, March 24, Sacramento Public Library staged a Digital Technology street festival on 9th Street, just outside the Central Library. Overdrive's Digital Bookmobile was the anchor, and staff from all branches set up tables showcasing all the digital and electronic materials and services the library offers.

Staff with bright orange laptops sat at tables in tents and demonstrated our array of databases, which patrons can use at home even when the library is closed. Using our newly-revised database page, it's even easier to find them and select just the right one, whether it be homework, Do-it-Yourself, business research, or browsing newspapers.

Staff also highlighted our online text and chat services: AskNow and Homework Help Now, where you can get your questions answered via the web, JobNow, where you can get help with your resume and practice for a successful interview.

Our newest service, Info Quest: Txt4Nswrs had its own table. When you're on the go and don't have access to your computer or the Internet, just text your question to 309-222-7740 and a librarian will text the answer back to your cell phone.

Digital storytelling is growing in importance as people age and less emphasis is placed on print preservation. Who writes in diaries any more? and how many of us blog regularly to tell the stories of our daily lives? And even if we did, how long will blogs last, before the Next Big Thing? (Does Twitter count?) The library is creating and preserving digitally the stories of Sacramento residents. These stories, told in their own words and enhanced by photographs, increase our appreciation for the people who helped Sacramento become the great place it is.

Senior Moment

How could I have forgotten to include one of the major presenters at our staff training day?! It can only be explained as a "senior moment." (Sorry, Michael!)

Michael Porter, "Libraryman", gave two excellent presentations: on how technology is providing the means for libraries to enter the virtual spaces inhabited by today's library users, and on gadgets available now that are transforming the way people interact with information. He said libraries are places (real or virtual) where content and community intersect. The question is whether libraries can get it together soon enough to remain relevant tomorrow.

In-Service: Technologies and Trends

Wow! There was lots of energy and excitement at our annual staff in-service training day. It started off with a burst of enthusiasm when Mike Eisenberg, University of Washington, delivered his opening keynote presentation: "What's out there and what it might mean in terms of strengths, weaknesses, oportunities and threats to, for, and by libraries." As an illustration of how much things have changed in just a few years, he showed this YouTube video.

Additional speakers included Stacey Aldrich, Deputy State Librarian, Alma Ortega from UC San Diego, Pat Wagner from Pattern Research, Cheryl Gould from InfoPeople, Walter Minkel from New York Public Library, Sandra Ley from Arizona State University, Lucille Boone and Sandra Stewart from San Jose Public Library, and Sacramento Public staff.

Collectively, they spoke of how social networking services like MySpace, Facebook, Del.icio.us, Second Life, Flickr, blogging sites like Blogger, and the availability of new tools and gadgets are changing the way people expect to find information, and should be changing the way libraries deliver it, in order to remain in the game.

Look for good stuff from your library soon!

Closed Wednesday: Annual Staff Training

It goes by many names: continuing ed, in-service training, professional development - Sacramento Public Library devotes one day each year to an all-staff training day. This year, on Wednesday, October 10, all libraries will be closed, and staff will be boning up on Emerging Technologies and Trends in Libraries - and what they mean for library services today and in the future.

Even though the branches are closed, there are still some services that are available. Books may be renewed by calling one of the Renewal Lines (916-264-2952 and 916-264-2953), and also by going to the library's web site and clicking the "your library account" link. We'll all be open again regular hours on Thursday, October 11.

Ask us to tell you what we learned about some of the ways libraries are making it easier and more convenient for the public to use their materials and services.

(Original photo by Mind on Fire, altered using Flickr Toys, and used here under the Creative Commons "attribute and share alike" license.)