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December 27, 2006
An mp3 Christmas
It was an mp3 Christmas in the Berry household. My college age son got an ipod. This was his second mp3 player since his original Dell jukebox no longer works, and he is very comfortable with the technology. His entire compact disc collection is loaded on his computer. He just has to transfer his playlists to a new device. John and I, on the other hand, are newbies. I have been quite content with my CD collection, having mastered the ability to burn CDs of my favorite tracks and create a nice mix for long car trips. However, when I heard that a friend had moved to the West Coast, and didn't take any of his CDs, I realized that I needed to upgrade my technology and my mindset. Besides, John really likes to listen to audio books, as well as music. We have a very nice collection of electronic books here at the Library, and he has never tried them. So it was time. My first stop was CNET, where I found a very helpful Buyers Guide to MP3 Players. I selected a Creative Zen player for John, since it looked like a good fit for downloading both the books from the library and music. I fell in love with the music site Rhapsody when I found hundreds of versions of my favorite jazz standard "All the Things You Are". So I signed up for a subscription and immediately began to create a playlist of John's favorite songs to load on his player. My next task will be downloading books. Fortunately, we have a few experts on the Darien Library staff who can help me with this!
And what did Santa bring me? I got the Sansa Rhapsody mp3 player designed to work specifically with Rhapsody. I only have 379 more versions of "All the Things You Are" to listen to...
Posted by louise at 02:34 PM | Comments (2)
West Palm Beach is hot!
Inspired by an article in the current issue of Library Journal, I visited the West Palm Beach Public Library on the spur of the moment last week. And am I glad that I did! Pam Sandlian Smith, Director, and Peter Robinson, consultant, have created an experience worthy of James Gilmore: (The Experience Economy). Pam, who was out of town, very graciously set up a visit for me with Peter, and WPBPL librarians Nancy Coriaty and Tina Albee who guided me through their branding exercise project and renovation. Peter has developed a process he calls GASP (Graphics, Ambience, Style, Presentation) to define the identity and vision for a project, in this case the West Palm Beach Public Library. The result is a cohesive, fresh, tropical, welcoming library. I loved the way the library looked. But perhaps even more valuable for us in Darien is how Pam has taken the branding exercise to the next level, and used it to identify the customer service promise to users of the West Palm Beach Public Library. Key library staff spent a day at the Ritz-Carleton Hotel, in concierge training, and developed a "customer service card" and a new slogan, "the world's nicest library".
West Palm Beach Public Library
Posted by louise at 12:16 PM | Comments (1)
Blogging Librarians make the New York Times
Kudos to Janet Davis and Barbara Thomas for representing us so well in the Connecticut section of the New York Times on Sunday. Patrick Verel's article about librarians who blog quoted Barbara and Janet, and spotlighted their podcasts. Thank you, Patrick!
Posted by louise at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2006
A phoenix from the Tower Record ashes
Our old CD racks
Our new CD displays
In the new library, our Main Street section will have a retail look and feel. We are beginning to experiment with retail displays in our Main Reading room, and bought used CD, book, and DVD displays from the now bankrupt Tower Records in Stamford. One library user exclaimed that she had never borrowed CDs before, but was attracted to the new display racks. Tower Records may be bankrupt, but I'm betting that, in picking over its bones, we will increase OUR CD circulation.
Posted by louise at 03:11 PM | Comments (2)