PodcastDirectory.com's listings of the Longshots: Library-Related Commentary and Interviews Podcasts

Longshots #210 Why Working Together is the Key to Survival

Sarah talks with Michael Piper, Executive Director for the Prairie Area Library System, which covers a service area of 10,000 square miles in northern Illinois. Through years working in the arena of multi-type library cooperation in Kansas, Texas, Michigan, and Indiana, Michael is convinced that the sustainability of libraries and library systems is dependent on cooperation and consortia. And as "bartenders of knowledge," cooperative efforts will support us in what we do best – help peo ...

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Sarah talks with Michael Piper, Executive Director for the Prairie Area Library System, which covers a service area of 10,000 square miles in northern Illinois. Through years working in the arena of multi-type library cooperation in Kansas, Texas, Michigan, and Indiana, Michael is convinced that the sustainability of libraries and library systems is dependent on cooperation and consortia. And as "bartenders of knowledge," cooperative efforts will support us in what we do best – help peo ...

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Sarah talks with Tom Sloan, Executive Director at the DuPage Library System, headquartered in Geneva, Illinois. Tom brings to Illinois successful models of library and library system cooperation from his previous director positions at the Southeast Florida Library Information Network (SEFLIN) and the State Library of Delaware. Tom explains why the future success of libraries is dependent on a solid examination of the full user experience at the library versus the more limited focus on the c ...

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Sarah speaks with Frank Cervone, Vice Chancellor for Information Services at Purdue University Calumet, about his position at the university and the importance of technology in the academic library. They also discuss his plans for the library, including being more proactive within the university, making it more of a social center for students, and digitizing their special collections.

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Sarah talks with Doug Skinner, an architect at Engberg Anderson, about their completion of the Rakow branch of the Gail Borden Public Library District. The building features environmentally sustainable elements and is registered as a LEED project. They also discuss new features of the library, such as the ability to check out DVDs 24/7.

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Sarah talks with Liz McGettigan, Library and Information Services Manager for the City of Edinburgh Council in Scotland about their virtual library project. They also discuss the Tales of One City blog, how they are applying Web 2.0 strategies in reinventing their website, their new branding plan, how they work to mirror the community, and a conference they put together each year featuring products and best practices.

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Sarah speaks with Diane Shelton, MA, LCPC, and founder of Follow Your Instinct about the "Helping Others Cope with the Challenges of Job Loss Amid Economic Crisis" program she's presenting at North Suburban Library System. They cover ways librarians can build skills in empathetic listening, maintain physical and emotional boundaries, and how to disengage from patrons they are not able to help. Additonally, tips are given for librarians looking for a new job themselves.

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Sarah talks with John Bouman, president of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law and one of the conveners of the Responsible Budget Coalition (RBC). Listen as they discuss HB 174, which creates revenue to provide a more balanced approach to fixing crisis while reforming the system and includes provisions to insulate the lower end of the income tax-paying public. They also talk about what the RBC is doing to help during the impasse, as well as what Illinois citizens can do.

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Sarah talks with Kathy Ryg, president of Voices for Illinois Children, and former State Representative for the 59th Legislative District. Kathy explains the platform for the Responsible Budget Coalition, a statewide coalition of over 100 organizations committed to building the support needed to solve Illinois' budget crisis. She explains how a modernized tax system is the key to revenue growth for Illinois, and recommends that citizens learn more about the HB 174.

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This week, Sarah talks with Laurie Bartolini and Pat Boze about OCLC's WorldCat Local pilot project. The two explain how the project got started, and describe the improvements it offers over traditional library catalogs, such as search results at the library, regional, and national levels, sorted by relevance; complementary interactivity with a library's local catalog; and social networking content. They also explain what's next for WorldCat Local as the three-year LSTA grant that funded it ...

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Sarah talks with Carla Funk, Executive Director of the Medical Library Association about the benefits of membership. They also discuss the ways MLA offers continuing edition, how the association is funded, and the challenges the MLA is facing during these difficult financial times. They also look at the changes the MLA is making to keep current and competitive in spite of reduced funding.

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Sarah talks with Nicole Engard, Director of Open Source Education at ByWater Solutions and author of Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data. They take a look at topics covered in the book, such as how to take various data sources and mash them into new ways to improve libraries, changing catalog data, and ways to mashup websites.

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This week, Sarah talks with Laurie Bartolini and Pat Boze about OCLC's WorldCat Local pilot project. The two explain how the project got started, and describe the improvements it offers over traditional library catalogs, such as search results at the library, regional, and national levels, sorted by relevance; complementary interactivity with a library's local catalog; and social networking content. They also explain what's next for WorldCat Local as the three-year LSTA grant that funded it ...

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For her 200th episode, Sarah talks with Peter Lor, visiting professor at the School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, about the situation of libraries in South Africa. Peter recently presented on this issue at the ALA Annual Conference, and he joins Sarah to share the changes he saw and helped initiate in South Africa following the end of apartheid. He also talks about the lessons he learned about advocacy and the library's place in society, and reflects on the ...

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Sarah talks with Al Gini, professor of Business Ethics at Loyola University's Graduate School of Business about how to achieve a work/life balance. Al is often invited to speak at library conferences based primarily on his book The Importance of Being Lazy, as well as its companion piece, My Job, My Self, and he speaks with Sarah about the changing role of work in people's lives. They also talk about the use of humor to take the sting away from the harder things in life.

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Sarah talks with George Eberhart, founding editor of American Libraries Direct, the weekly e-newsletter from the American Library Association. George talks about how the newsletter got started, where content comes from, and how he seeks to make each issue "informative, practical, and amusing at times." He also explains future plans for the newsletter and the website, and the impact that the newsletter has had on its sister publication, the monthly print magazine American Libraries.

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Sarah talks with Dean Corner, Director of Reader Services and Information, Maine State Library, about the day their statewide delivery service dried up. When staff of the delivery vendor for Maine learned their contract had not been renewed, they started jumping ship, seriously impacting physical delivery. The happy result of what became a national media story was the increased awareness of a highly used library service that many people did not even know existed.

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Sarah talks with Valerie Horton, executive director of the Colorado Library Consortium, about her groundbreaking work in the field of library physical delivery. Valerie talks about the results of a recent national survey on delivery practices, including outsourcing, the motivation for the creation of the Moving Mountains Project, and her prediction that the digitization of books will cause delivery stats to skyrocket. Valerie also talks about her new book, co-authored with Bruce Smith, titl ...

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Sarah talks with Dennis Norlin, executive director of the American Theological Library Association. Dennis explains how the association has maintained its solid financial position, partially supported by the ATLA Religion Database. First published in the 1940s, the now fully electronic resource indexes over 550 religion journals, representing the world's religions in 26 languages.

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Sarah talks with Nancy Dowd, director of marketing and public relations for the New Jersey State Library. Nancy shares the status of their exciting, low cost mobile marketing project, which is showing great success with typically tough to reach target audiences. They also discuss Nancy's dual blogs and the impetus behind her new book, Bite-Sized Marketing: Realistic Solutions for the Overworked Librarian.

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