Recently in Internet Librarian 2004 Category

Just so you know, the Internet Librarian PowerPoints have started to appear on the InfoToday site. If I spot presentations for any of the programs I've covered, (I haven't yet), I'll go back and link to them.

It's time to start winding up my coverage of Internet Librarian 2004. We're almost there! But I can't fail to mention "Research Tools: Turning Search into Research." Speakers Marydee Ojala, Darlene Fichter and Sebastian Gard discussed a variety of different tools available to help you manage all that useful information you find out there on the web. Just a few tidbits.....

There's no question, the Internet is becoming a scary place. Between phishing, viruses and spyware, it's enough to make you want to turn off your computer and hide under the covers. Even experienced users can be fooled as scam artists become more sophisticated. But don't panic, Genie Tyburski offered hints on how to avoid scams and bad information in her program, "The Art of Detection."

I'm back from Internet Librarian, and it's time for catch-up. I still have several sessions to tell you about. The conference was excellent...now I just need to get the CD so I can listen to all the stuff I missed! Monterey was much warmer this year than usual and the rain threatened by weather.com last week certainly never materialized. My raincoat and all those warm jackets I brought along just took up space.

Back to the program. Usability seems to be somewhat of a moving target. Are we gradually learning more about how people use the web, or are people using the web differently as they become more experienced? I don't know the answer to that one, but Darlene Fichter gave us a great update on the current thinking on usability.

The AIIP Technology Awards were announced at Tuesday's Keynote....the envelope please......and it goes to Netsnippets! Netsnippets is a product designed for organizing, compiling and presentation of web research.

Runner ups were Dialog 4 and Microsoft's Onenote. By the way, Onenote has very recently become one of my favorite programs.

As the number of newsletters available via email grows I hope that we will start to see more tools for managing them. Subscribers have to be added and removed, usage needs to be monitored (is there anybody subscribing to this anymore?) and the issues need to be sent out to everyone on the list as soon as they are received. For whatever reason the serials software used by libraries to check in and route materials seems to be lacking in any tools for email list management.

In addition to the standard newsletter-type current awareness materials, customized email alerts are also are proliferating. Think Westclips and Lexis Eclipses, for example. In this morning's program (Internet Librarian 2004), A Web-Based Current Awareness Management System, Michael Rogers and Mary Talmadge-Breebenar (Bristol-Myers Squibb) showed the in-house system they developed to manage all of the various email alerts that are set up for their users.

Does it make sense to maintain lists of generic web links when that information is available on the web from other sources? David King at Kansas Public Library started re-thinking the time and energy the library staff devoted to their lists of links, and at the same time wondered what they COULD do to better serve their patrons. While this case study centered on a public library environment, the questions and solutions are quite pertinent to all kind of libraries.

It's not very often that you can go to a conference, attend 4 programs in a row, and find them all informative and well-done. But that was my first day at Internet Librarian in Monterey. Yes, I know, I should tell you all about it, but sorry, I'm just too tired. The best I can do for now is to give you a few good alternatives for an IL fix and promise more later.