Riot Librarian

Category: design

  • Planning a Website Re-Vamp, Part I

    Before I started working in the Sonoma State University Library, I knew re-designing the Library website was going to be a priority. Everyone made it clear to me during the interview process that they weren’t happy with the site and that it had historically been one of the bigger challenges in the Library. Fixing the…

  • The Library of the Future?

    During the closing keynote speech at LITA National Forum this year, Sara Houghton encouraged us to engage in a little thought exercise. She wanted us to imagine the ideal library of the future, without the limitations of what we believe is possible or what we’re currently doing. We should, she suggested, set aside some time…

  • Kindle Library Books

    The inability to check out books from my library using my Kindle irked me from the first moment I started using the Kindle. When Amazon and Overdrive announced that they were finally partnering to allow library lending on the Kindle, I was pretty excited. Sure, as a librarian I know it’s far from a perfect…

  • New Amazon Search Feature?

    I wish I had time to write a proper post, but these days, time is something I don’t seem to have much of. However, I wanted to mention something I just saw that I think is kind of awesome: Amazon seems to have created a new search feature that groups results based on which words…

  • Building Better Websites

    I’ve had an idea floating around in the back of my mind for a few weeks, to write about quick and easy ways libraries can create better websites. Then this morning I saw that Amanda Etches-Johnson and Aaron Schmidt presented on just this topic at Computers in Libraries this week, and I think they did…

  • Big projects beginning

    Yes, I have been missing in action here since I started my new job. The last six months gave me a great opportunity to settle in slowly and take things on bit by bit. I spent a lot of time getting to know our system, and starting to clean up some of what I’ve begun…

  • Library Websites, redux

    I read a great article this morning about the future of library websites, and thought it more than worth sharing. Steven Bell writes in Inside Higher Ed that we need to re-think the purpose and role of library web portals. He points out that most scholars (and students) are no longer using library web sites…

  • Some design thoughts I appreciated

    Being on break and all, I don’t have too much to share in the library and information science realms. However, I did read a great article yesterday (with an equally interesting follow-up piece today) that I thought I’d share: Josh Porter talks about making the design process transparent and how that can benefit an organization,…

  • The Creative Library

    The Urban Library Journal’s Spring 2008 issue is dedicated to creativity in the library. There are some really terrific articles in here, on library transformation, using technologies in new ways in the library, and promoting work and leisure in libraries. I’ve never read this journal before, but I want to sit down and read this…

  • You cannot escape the consumer culture

    Not even at the library, apparently. At least not in certain counties in England anymore. What I don’t understand is why the plan seems to be so ill thought out. The Policy Director, Guy Daines, says they used to give advertising bookmarks, and he’s concerned about the work of putting ad inserts into all the…