Disqus - Latest Comments for webgoddess

Re: The Library of Today

twitter-982351 — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:11:01 -0000

A nice point Ro...I mean, webgodess. ;) As do a few other folks, I try to work marketing into my presentations and articles as much as possible. I do think that it is a core competency that almost all librarians should posses. And most of us just don't. It is a difficult shift for many of us in "Libraryland" to think like that, but very necessary imo.

When I talk or write about marketing to library audiences I always say things like: "What we do provides SO MUCH economic and social benefit to our communities (I prove that with stats and numbers before I get to the punch lines), so why are we generally AWFUL at telling people how wonderful we are?? Sure, we are a generally a very modest profession, but we are doing everyone a disservice, and ultimately getting less funding and support for the amazing things we do everyday if we DON'T do a better job of marketing."

I realize it is a complete area of study, but some basic marketing skills and practices go a long way, both from the staff and the community in support of libraries.

And for anyone who thinks "marketing" smacks of something unpleasant, sometimes dishonest or distasteful, I would remind them that if you are marketing such a powerful and positive force for good in your local community that you are frankly obligated to strike your bias against marketing from your perceptions. Libraries have a duty to do a better job of marketing.

Again, this is just my take on the isue though. ;)

Re: The Library of Today

webgoddess — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:54:27 -0000

As yet another person who speaks to library conferences and writes library-focused articles and books on the future of libraries and technology, I'd like to comment on the marketing of libraries. Chris mentioned in a comment up-thread that nobody knows or cares what his library does and this is probably true. Libraries don't have the kind of money necessary to hire people who are "marketers". Much of what I write and present about has to do with using Web 2.0 tools to do a lot of the library's marketing for free, but that is because there is no money or staff available to do traditional marketing. This is where you all (Chris, his readers, anybody...) come in - people who love their libraries and make use of them can be a library's best marketing weapon. If you all sent a letter to the editor of your local paper, or told just a few people about how great your library is, you would be doing an AMAZING thing for your local libraries - and helping to keep them open and available for you! IF you are *really* into your local library, check the library's Friends group or Foundation - they are ways you can directly contribute to the health of your library. There are a million other ways you can help - some are free (word of mouth marketing, for example), some with your checkbook.
Thanks for posting this, Chris, and getting the conversation started - I have to say that reading through the comments of all these people who love their libraries has been heartening!!

Re: Lifestreaming without FriendFeed

webgoddess — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:20:56 -0000

I'm a goof - it was in there twice for crying out loud. All fixed now, though - that lifestream tag is POWERFUL STUFF people - just a warning... ;)

Re: Lifestreaming without FriendFeed

webgoddess — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:12:07 -0000

Aw crap - I'd not noticed that when I previewed it... Thanks for pointing it out - I'll go htmlize those brackets so it doesn't actually pull the lifestream into the post any more. How very meta of me...

Re: Library Spotlight at MaintainIT = Me!!

webgoddess — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:03:06 -0000

LOL! We haven't gotten drunk together yet, have we? You'd change your mind then!! We'll rectify that at the next conference we both attend, ok?

Re: My netbook

webgoddess — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:40:18 -0000

I haven't noticed a problem, but my main beef with regular laptops is that as I'm typing, my palms are resting on the trackpad, making the cursor jump all over the place in my document. This machine is thin and, when my palms are down and resting on something, it's the table on which the netbook sits, not the machine itself. Because of the thinness, the curve of my wrist seems to be less pronounced. Having said all that - almost all of my long-form typing happens at my desktop - other than session notes, I never spend a lot of time typing stuff up on the netbook...

Re: A somewhat delayed NAGW overview

Robin — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:27:53 -0000

It didn't seem to show up here - but I replied to Martin with the link to the Pinnacle Award winners for 2008 - http://www.nagw.org/index.php/about-nagw/media-... earlier today. Congratulations to everyone who won - all the sites were amazingly cool!

Re: A somewhat delayed NAGW overview

webgoddess — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 21:05:14 -0000

Re: A somewhat delayed NAGW overview

Martin Thibodeau — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:02:48 -0000

That's OK.

No, I am not personally on the list -- I have also tried to join the NAGW Google Group but they seem very particular about who can join (I have designed government websites but I am not a govt employee or programmer).

Thanks for the reply.

Re: A somewhat delayed NAGW overview

webgoddess — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:48:33 -0000

Martin,

I didn't take notes during the award ceremony, so I don't know *exactly* who won. It's far enough out now that I don't really want to guess, either... Are you on the NAGW list? Someone there will probably know!