A Bloy and his Blog

Earlier this week I attended this year’s Computers in Libraries conference. While I wasn’t all that enamored with the hotel location, the conference itself was excellent. I got excited about, and learned a LOT of interesting things. Below are a few highlights.

The folks at the South Carolina State Library recently redesigned their site using Joomla, the open source content management system. This was a very inspirational session for me, as I’m looking at adding a CMS to my library’s website. More info is available at Joomla in Libraries.

Another intriguing session was Derick Willis’ talk entitled Creating Browsable Content with Django. Django is another open source CMS I want to learn more about.

read the rest of: Computers in Libraries 2007

Last Spring, my library signed on to AskAway, a virtual reference service. AskAway is the Wisconsin division of the QuestionPoint consortia, which provides virtual reference (via online chat) throughout the United States. That means our patrons can get reference help from a librarian, 24 hours a day, even on holidays. In turn, some of our librarians spend an hour or so per week answering virtual reference questions from patrons all over the country.

It’s been an interesting experience providing online reference help. When I first started, it was a little unnerving and overwhelming (much like the first few times I was working at the reference desk in the real world). But just like that other reference situation, those feelings fade with experience.

read the rest of: On being a virtual librarian

This week, my latest web creation was launched: a new design of Edgewood College Library’s catalog.

Visually, I designed the new catalog to have an appearance that compliments the look of the library’s web site (with a similar header and footer on each page). Marketing types would probably use the word “branding” here somewhere. Some new features have also been unveiled along with the catalog’s new look. Check out the news blurb from the library web site for details.

read the rest of: A new catalog for Edgewood

Yesterday I came home from the Computers In Libraries conference in Washington DC. Recognizing the importance of technology in libraries, this conference has been going on for 21 years, and it was great to be able to attend the 2006 edition.

If I were asked to name one underlining theme of the conference it probably would be Library 2.0, the library specific counterpart to Web 2.0. Web 2.0 refers to the latest generation of web sites, which are more interactive, collaborative, personalized, and customizable (using tools like AJAX, blogs, wikis, podcasts, RSS feeds, etc.). One speaker said that traditionally, libraries have been somewhat behind the technological times, or as he put it, “Libraries: giving you yesterday’s technology, tomorrow.”

read the rest of: Computers in Libraries 2006

Today the new website for the Oscar Rennebohm Library at Edgewood College was officially unveiled. It’s been a big project for me, one that had its beginning back when I was hired as the Web Services Librarian this past November.

A great deal of the design of the site was inspired by architectural elements of the library building. I created the header logo to mimic the window and roof lines of the building facade and the graphic at the footer on each page was inspired by the shape of the building. The official Edgewood colors were used (red and black) along with some shades of gray.

read the rest of: Edgewood Library website

The following are a few things I learned today, while at the conference of the Wisconsin Association of Academic Librarians at the Monona Terrace convention center.

Current tuition for students of the University of Wisconsin School of Library and Information Studies is $14,688 for the academic year. Back when I was a graduate student in library school (1986-1988), I believe tuition for the year was about $2,400. And you thought gas prices have been increasing too fast.

Odd Wisconsin is one of the more popular sections on the Wisconsin Historical Society’s web site. Which by the way has some wonderful resources in addition to Odd Wisconsin.

On their migration north, common loons stop in Lake Monona. During a break at the conference, while looking out one of the windows facing the lake, I spotted a loon fishing for a meal.

When I’m watching a loon in the middle of April, I get eager for summer camping in northern Wisconsin.

This weekend my latest web creation, a site for the Cudahy Family Library, was unveiled. To learn a little about how I developed it, take a look in my portfolio on www.BloyDesigns.com.

Update: February 9, 2007
As of today, the domain BloyDesigns.com no longer exists. Information about my web development work can be found on my resume.