The 12th Internet Librarian will once again be in Monterey CA, October 20-22 with workshops on the preceding two days.  This year’s theme is Beyond 2.0: User-Focused Tools & Practices.  The call for speakers is online and we look forward to speaking proposals. 

Preparations are underway for TBC 2008, September 25-6, San Jose.  This year’s conference will be chaired by Rebecca Jones, Dysart & Jones Associates.  We’re looking for speakers.  So if you are a practitioner, taxonomy expert, and are interestedin participating, please send in a proposal.

Jill Hurst-Wahl’s Facebook update last evening about earthquakes in Nevada reminded me about Ask.com’s earthquake site.  Last November when a quake rocked us at Internet Librarian in Monterey, Gary Price pointed me to site and it is so interesting.  If you haven’t viwed their earthquake watch, check it out!  I continues to amaze me how many earthquakes happen around the world every day — most small, but some sizable.  It definitely looks like the west coast of North America is having a busy earthquake week.

With all the excitement and growth of online videos, especially at YouTube, and the InfoTubey Awards at Computers in Libraries 2008 on Tuesday April 8th, it’s interested to see a webinar on video 2.0 from the folks at Streaming Media. With interesting speakers, online video experts, this event discusses what’s in store for the next 12 months — the top trends in online video and a look at real-world examples of how companies are setting the bar for the next phase – Video 2.0. Should arm you with the information you need to execute your own Video 2.0 strategy. Steaming Media is an Information Today brand with a magazine, podcasts, white papers, a vibrant website, special events and lots of conferences!

Looking for speakers for KMWorld & Intranets 2008, San Jose, September 23-25.  Conference theme:  Driving Enterprise Innovation & Achievement: User-Focused Tools & Practices

Proposals can be submitted online here. 

‘Tis the season for conferences and conference planning.  We’re looking forward to Information Today’s Computers in Libraries 2008, April 7-9 in DC and working on an interesting experiment which we’ll tell you more about in two weeks!  We’ve been doing some volunteer conference planning for SLA’s 99th annual conference in Seattle, June 15-18 and IFLA’s 74th World Library & Information Congress in Quebec City, August 10-14.  We’ll post more on these soon.  In the meantime, there are lots of call for speakers for fall conferences, so here comes a stream of posts!

Coming up at the Education Institute, Tuesday February 19th from 3-4 EST, Stephen Abram talks about technologies for promoting your library. “Jane Dysart, Dysart & Jones Associates, interviews globe-traveling Stephen Abram about the cool new technology tools he has experienced, heard about, observed as well as interesting research about new technologies, specifically those that can be used to promote the library. Through exciting stories, Abram shares his knowledge of new technologies and examples of libraries using them, and provides lots of places to look for further resources.” Sign up and join us! And if you have questions for Stephen or things you want to know, let me know throught the comments here or via email (jane at dysartjones.com)

My workday starts with “coffee & quotes” — a mix of strong coffee with a feed of positive quotes and Harvard Business Review’s “Management Tip of the Day”. Too many people are hesitant to make difficult decisions that are strategically important and yet unpopular. Thanks to Colin Powell for this great quote:
Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off. Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions. It’s inevitable, if you’re honorable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: you’ll avoid the tough decisions and you’ll avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted.
- General Colin Powell, Chairman (Ret), Joint Chiefs of Staff

Yep, it IS all the in money. We librarians know that, but relating to our budgets in the same way that our funders relate to budgets continues to be a struggle for many of us. So I was delighted to talk with John Latham and learn that he’s bringing his 2 day Financial Management for Information Services course to Toronto, April 10 - 11, 2008. John is an accountant who not only understands libraries and information functions, but manages SLA’s information center. When I asked John about his course, he responded in his usual candid way: “If we are going to play with the “big boys” we have to learn how to play with their toys: budgets, balance sheets, and income statements (1). We are always whining about not being paid enough and not being at the executive or decision-making table, but my experience is that info pros either don’t think it’s important, or are not willing to learn about financial management. I devoted my September 2007 Information Management column in Information Outlook to the subject, and have given presentations on the subject at various venues.” And members of OLA and SLA receive a discount! Now that’s talking money….