Libraryman

In doing presentations of the years, I’ve been really lucky to make friends and stay in touch with a few folks out there doing the real work in the libraries I visit. We’ll occasionally exchange emails and ideas and just keep track of each other. Today I got a message on facebook from one of those friends who is now preparing to teach a class in his library that will be somewhat similar to the session I presented to their lib a couple of years ago. How cool is that?! At any rate, this person asked if I had any suggestions or topics that are top of mind for me lately that they might be interested in using too. But of course! Here is the email I sent my friend. Maybe you’ll find it interesting too? Or perhaps you might have other/different ideas? We’d love to hear them here if you have any different ones to share!

Oh, and ______, if you want to do a conference presentation like this *with me* some time just say the word, k?

“Hey _______,

PS-I’m gonna blog this now. lol! :)”

A brief video snippet (with added graphics) that describes why the “hi-fi” in “hi-fi sci-fi library” is key to our present and future success.

Fighting the forces of evil and oppression with your high fidelity library/librarians!

Several months ago LITA asked me to be one of their keynote speakers at their upcoming National Forum (October 16-19). This made me happy, proud, excited and, well, a little nervous. It also left me wondering…what should the theme of my presentation be? Hmmm… LITA, eh? The Library and Information Technology Association of the American Library Association? Well, lets see…I travel all over the place talking about libraries, library futures and emerging technology, right? And I believe we are in the midst of a sea change in library, culture, community and info services. And I am convinced there are things libraries need to do *right now* to ensure our relevance going forward. And while we are generally smart enough, we surely don’t get rich from our jobs…yet we keep at it. So we need some inspiration AND amusement! We all work so hard and we keep on believing that libraries will and MUST endure as society evolves. So why not talk about libraries present and future in light of current tech, future tech, academic futurism and, yes, science fiction! But what might get people’s toes tapping before the presentation? Yep! A groovy library song! A song that shares the same name as that upcoming presentation :”hi-fi sci-fi library”!

As far as I am concerned, what the world needs is a collection of “hi-fi sci-fi libraries”. And I was so excited about this idea that I just had to sing it out loud! But alas, I know how to play only the most basic of notes on the most basic of instruments. Soooo, I approached my most helpful and generous Libraryland buddy (and joint author of the “Internet Spotlight” column in each issue of Public Libraries Magazine), David Lee King. You see, before he worked in Libraryland, David worked in Nashville, in the music industry. And as you might imagine, David is also a fairly accomplished musician and producer (though he is far too humble to admit that to most folks despite his great talent and ability).

So I said to David: “David, I want to make a song and a video for this LITA presentation I am doing in the Fall. Something that both you and I could do together and can both believe in and get behind. I’m slightly nervous about this presentation for some reason, but I also see it as a GREAT opportunity to help get the word out about what we both believe in when it comes to society, library futures and technology. I have some basic song ideas and all the lyrics ready. Would you like to help me make a song and a video?”

And David, being the generous and thoughtful friend that he is said “Of course!”. Actually, he said something like “Well I like the idea for sure. Why don’t you write down your ideas and lyrics, send them to me and we might be able to work on it once things settle down a bit.” And, of course, things never did settle down, for either of us. So, slowly but surely we worked on it like a hobby for a few months.

Over the course of those months David and I sent musical ideas and lyrics and rhythmical concepts back and forth. Then, I arranged to spend a day with David in Kansas recording our song. No, it wasn’t easy. But yes, we actually DID IT! And lo and behold, one day of recording later….we had our song. AND a few goofy video files! So..we were really on our way!

With the song complete, it was time to make the video. And since David had done 85% of the musical work, it seemed only fair that *I* (non-Mac owner that I am btw) handle the video making responsibilities.

So I dove in. And, well, it took a couple of weeks. Actaully, it took almost a month. And it took contributions from librarians all across the planet. Literally! BUT…we now have a video. And it is, in my opinion, a pretty decent video. Sure, it is goofy! But it is also just as hopeful and honest as it is goofy.

And let me tell you…it was quite a project. A project involving weeks of editing and nearly 100 different video and audio files. Is it perfect? Nah! Is it a labor of love for Libraryland? Completely. And heck, some of you folks reading this might even be in the thing,lip syncing along to the jaunty little “hi-fi sci-fi LIBRARY!!” chorus.

So, on behalf of David and I, THANK YOU! Thank you so much to the folks that contributed to this video! We both hope it provides some inspiration and energy to the quest we are all on as library professionals as we strive to help libraries realize their unparalleled potential in this crazy, cool and even sometimes scary, hi-fi sci-fi world we all now live in.

Rock on, Libraryland! We hope you enjoy it!

-Michael

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Now playing: David Lee King & Michael Porter - hi-fi sci-fi library

From the last post you can see that David and I recorded a snappy little library song last week. We are really proud of the work we’ve produced and now YOU get a chance to be in the video!! It is jumpy little ditty about library futures, technology and how we will succeed as libraries.
Please listen to this short snippet and then…..shoot a brief video of you singing along! Thats all it takes! You can use a web cam, or any other camera you like and send it to the email below. It should really only take a few minutes on your end, and after we get the videos, we’ll take the best and put them in the video we are hard at work on! Of course, please also feel free to send other video that might go along with the title/theme of the song “hi-fi sci-fi library” (costumes are very welcome by the way!:)
So join in the fun and star in a video with us! This is your official invite! We are looking forward to seeing YOU in our upcoming video!

Here is a link to the very short snippet to sing along with (you can download it even if you want). The “hi-fi sci-fi library” part is what we really need to see you singing.

If you have you have a webcam, you really should be emailing your video to: michael.libraryman *At Sign**gmail.com

Please send your clips in to the above address no later than August 24th, 2008.

We are really looking forward to seeing you in the video with us!!!!!!!!!

-Michael Porter and David Lee King

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Now playing: David Lee King & Michael Porter - hi-fi sci-fi library

This years Computers in Libraries Conference was another wonderful flurry of ideas, conversations and connections. Highlights for me included:
1. Seeing old colleagues and friends.
2. Meeting new colleagues and making new friends.
3. Hearing what everyone is working on and thinking about.
4. The Gaming Event. W00t! Even if you don’t play games, please consider swinging by this event at future conferences. Community in ACTION.
5. One word: karaoke

It was a real pleasure to present a couple sessions with the amazing Helen Blowers. The real Helen Blowers! One of our sessions was a preconference called “Avatars to Advocacy“. We also did a shorter regular session called “Innovative Marketing Using 2.0 Tools” (you can find those slides by following this link).

And now for a few photographic highlights:

link

link

Cindi’s Cil2008 photoset.

All flickr photos tagged cil2008, ranked by “interestingness”.

Happy unrelated observation:
Say what your will about Chuck Norris but Mr. T is the only guy that can REALLY bring people out of comas. Note to Libraryland: If I’m ever in a coma, please send Mr. T to snap me out of it.

My friend and fellow practical library tech booster, Steve Campion, sent me this message on facebook today:
Hey Michael,
Is singing in your new job description? Someone suggested that either you or I need to sing this song at ALA Midwinter. I’m not going, so it might be up to you.
~Steve

His post says:

To the tune of “The Major-General’s Song”
With apologies to Gilbert & Sullivan… and you…

I advocate creation of a social network library,
Dispense with thoughts a-plenty in my blog much like a diary,
And show how common MySpace is, it dominates the territ’ry
‘Cuz people like to share their lives; it’s really quite extraordin’ry.

I upload pix of our events on a communal Flickr page,
And make it easy to YouTube; that latest clip is all the rage.
Encourage interaction for our young and old of any age,
Makes working here as fun as anything they do at Cam-ba-ridge.

I recommend Delicious, Facebook, wikis, Ning, and R-S-S,
Use tag clouds, gaming, apps and widgets, and I twitter to excess.
It matters that our patrons are involved with our transparency.
I advocate creation of a social network library.

Well firstly, I wish you were going to be at Midwinter. Secondly, while I’d be willing to give this my best effort, you must know the outcome would likely be more in line with Homer Simpson’s performance cited below:

Homer: Well, here I am, right on time. I don’t see Barney “Let’s
crash the rocket into the White House and kill the President”
Gumble…
Assistant: Actually, he’s been here since sunrise.
[Barney works with a punching bag]
Barney: Hi Homer. Since they made me stop drinking, I’ve regained my
balance and diction! Observe: [does backflips] “I am the
very model of a modern major general, I’ve information
vegetable, animal, and mineral.”
Homer: Oh, that’s nothing. Watch this: [does cartwheels] “There
once was a man from Nantucket, Whose –” [smashes into a
wall]
*link to full episode script*

In related news, the new Futurama DVD was released today. W00t!

In completely unrelated news: Pretty song, pretty books, pretty people

Our Posse in the October Issue of School Library Journal. Well, teeny parts of our posse. Also, SLJ staff tells me: “we’re sending a special edition newsletter on 2.0, that includes this short piece”. The posse approves.
Original pic they so politely asked to use. Hi Rochelle!:

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep…..This just in…. Jenny Levine, Aaron Schmidt and I will be hosting an Open Gaming Event after the Sunday preconference on, well, gaming, that Jenny and Aaron are doing. We’re happy to say that this is being brought to you, in a fairly informal way, by ALA and WebJunction, courtesy of Information Today. Cooperation is Goooood.

Here are the details:
This Sunday, Oct 28, starting around 4:30 p.m. in the Colton I room, we’ll have Guitar Hero (PS2), Dance Dance Revolution (PS2), and Wii Sports going for open play. This is your chance to beat your favorite blogger at any one of these games. I have been honing my Guitar Hero chops and will be happy to take on all comers, though Jenny, Aaron and I are mostly there to watch help and watch you all have fun.

We’ve got the room until 7:00 p.m., and as Jenny says: “I can pretty much guarantee a lot of laughter, finger wagging, trash talking, and general merriment.” Oh, and Flickring, too, since we’re also counting this as a Flickr and Twitter meetup. Heck, why not throw video in there too? You know it goes without saying that we will be hitting the town after the session, right?

I’m bringing a prize for the greatest Guitar Hero of the evening. Rock!

Testing the new Jib Jab “Starring You” tonight was partly fun and partly a chore. There are a few steps you have to go through to make the heads work and look “right” which took a bit of the joy out of setting things up. It is interesting to see this sort of technology interface being sold as something the public will latch on to. It is a stretch at the moment, but think of the promos libraries could do with a carefully planned marketing program using something like this (perhaps embedding letting patrons stick themselves in a famous book setting, etc?). The video I made is really just for fun and isn’t meant to be too awfully serious. You know, I must confess that upon seeing the results I couldn’t help but wonder “should I have just read a chapter or two in a book instead of making this?”.

Naaaah, who am I kidding, this time was time well spent! Enjoy:

A few weeks back I asked a question on my facebook profile page just to see what would happen. Would people answer? Would they think about their answers, be funny, rude, or ??? Here’s what popped up. All in all a lovely snapshot, from a (mostly) fine bunch of thinkers. Thanks for sharing your answers. New questions will pop up soon. Having said that, you know, I didn’t ask any of these folks if they would mind if I posted their answer on this blog. Is that an issue? Hmmmm…… If it bugs anybody who posted an answer lmk, but since the profile page is public there didn’t seem to be any violation of privacy. Yes?

Also, here’s a picture of my facebook friends, in handy wheel form, revealing connections between folks mapped on the wheel. It’s a handy, interesting and revealing device. Ahhh, sweet data visualization. You will see below that, well, I hardly have any friends on facebook that aren’t library staffers (or at least connected to at least one other Libraryland person on facebook). Try making your own friend wheel on facebook to see what it reveals about you! Hmmmm, think of the possible ramifications!

(click to find path to larger, readable version):