Monthly Archives: December 2006

books and libraries on digg

23 Dec 06 – 11:02 pm

Yesterday libraries got some love in a post titled “Librarians stake their future on open source” on digg. There is (only) one semi-contrarian comment in the bunch. In response to the comment
“Yes, there are a lot of people who work at a Library on digg. ;-)”
someone chimed in with
“i guess [...]

By Aaron Schmidt | Posted in fun, general | Tagged , | Comments (0)

five things

23 Dec 06 – 11:02 pm

So I was tagged by two people to list five things people don’t know about me.

I’m a minimalist and dislike clutter. Even things like crown molding “are a bit too much.”
I spend a little time every day dreaming about selling what I own and traveling to far off places.
If I could be a rap [...]

By Aaron Schmidt | Posted in fun, meta | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

comment prone

15 Dec 06 – 10:07 am

My post on the game/toy Line Rider, appropriate titled line rider appears on the first page of results for the google search for, you guessed it, line rider. How did i figure this out? After a number of random comments from young peopke appeared on the post, I figured the post had to [...]

By Aaron Schmidt | Posted in meta, teenagers and the library | Tagged | Comments (0)

verbotomy

12 Dec 06 – 1:41 pm

If you’re a librarian I bet you have a thing for words. Here’s the game for you. Verbotomy is a bit like a structured version of Wordie. However, instead of listing words that you like you’re presented with a definition and you have to create the word for it. Also included [...]

By Aaron Schmidt | Posted in gaming in libraries | Tagged , | Comments (1)

rescuing data from the OPAC

12 Dec 06 – 9:09 am

Part of the long and major redesign of the Thomas Ford Memorial Library website mandated a browsable list of the feature films available. The idea, I’m pretty sure, is to have an online version of the title list binder that sits by the movies. There are a number of ways I could have [...]

By Aaron Schmidt | Posted in usability, web stuff | Tagged , , , | Comments (8)

meebo love

12 Dec 06 – 8:08 am

Jessamyn and I got mentioned on the meebo blog today:
Turns out that locked-down computers, reference librarians who always want to be in touch with their patrons, and the desire to make libraries fun and friendly have given meebo and meebo me the perfect opportunity to shine.
Just recently, we smiled when reading Jessamyn’s blog where she [...]

By Aaron Schmidt | Posted in instant messaging, meta, web-based chat | Tagged , , | Comments (4)

the librarian dialogues

8 Dec 06 – 1:57 pm

This afternoon I stumbled across “A short comical satire about a group of librarians that take their job very serious” uploaded by YouTube user f4tk1dx. The person that wrote this movie must have worked in a library before.

By Aaron Schmidt | Posted in fun | Tagged , | Comments (3)

a new opportunity

8 Dec 06 – 1:32 pm

I’m happy to announce that in addition to the other things I’m doing, I’m now also the director of the North Plains Public Library. Located about 20 miles outside of Portland, this small town of 1755 people has a beautiful library building that is staffed by three paid employees and a ton of volunteers. [...]

By Aaron Schmidt | Posted in meta | Tagged | Comments (33)

free wifi in portland!

6 Dec 06 – 1:07 pm

Portland’s airport is one of my favorites. It is clean, attractive, and easy to get to the gate. And importantly, once at the gate, there’s free wireless.
Yesterday, Portland released a free, advertising supported wireless network throughout the downtown and nearby area east of the Willamette.
12 blocks and it’ll reach me!! [...]

By Aaron Schmidt | Posted in WiFi, general | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

game as web interface

6 Dec 06 – 8:18 am

Steffen P Walz, a game designer and cultural anthropologist designed a great navigation system for his website. There are four mini games, each an archetype of a game genera: Achiever, Killer, Explorer, and Socializer. When the website viewer/game player completes a small task, the content on the web page changes. There’s also [...]

By Aaron Schmidt | Posted in gaming in libraries, teenagers and the library, web stuff | Tagged , , | Comments (2)