Annual Toowoomba (Qld.) Diocesan School Libraries Conference, 2-4 June 2014

Yesterday and today I attended the Annual Diocesan School Libraries Conference, held at the Highfields Cultural Centre just outside Toowoomba. The conference offers a program of professional development and training for Teacher Librarians and Library Assistants such as myself, who work for Catholic Education, Toowoomba Diocese.

This year we had some very interesting guest speakers. Kerry Argent spoke to us about her work as an author/illustrator. Some books illustrated by Kerry include Finola Fox, A Giraffe in the Bath, Miss Lily's Fabulous Pink Feather Boa, Ruby Roars, Sebastian Lives in a Hat, Wombat Divine, India the Showstopper and One Woolly Wombat. Kerry spoke about her love of drawing animals and the processes involved in illustrating a children's book.

We also heard Emily Craven, young adult e-book author, talk about the non-traditional route of self-publishing and how social media can be used by students to tell a story. Emily's latest comedy novels are set in Facebook and she is the digital producer at If:Book Australia.

I particularly enjoyed hearing children's and young adult author, Brian Falkner. He was very entertaining and his passion for writing was very evident. Brian's books include The Flea Thing, The Real Thing, The Super Freak, The Tomorrow Code, Brainjack and The Project among others.

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Sharon Manteit

Faye's social media 2014: Amazing libraries

Faye's social media 2014: Amazing libraries: Really impressed !!!!

Valentina's Blog: Social media enables libraries to communicate d...

Thanks Valentina. Social media enables libraries to engage with patrons who may not be able to go to the library such as the elderly or disabled.

Valentina's Blog:

 Social media enables libraries to communicate d...:   Social media enables libraries to communicate directly with their customers and to strengthen library community relations. Libraries ...

Don't Google it, SweetSearch it!

I think Google is fantastic, and it's the default search engine for not just myself, but for many other individuals and organisations. However, there are alternative search engines which are also excellent. SweetSearch, for example, is a search engine for students and every website in SweetSearch has been evaluated by their research experts. It is also free of advertisements. As a result, students are more likely to obtain quality, relevant information more efficiently. By visiting SweetSearch Biographies, students can access the profiles of over 1,000 significant people. Here are a few other search engines which are worth exploring and keeping in mind:

• Blekko
• DeweyDigger (explore knowledge according to the Dewey Decimal Classification System)
• DuckDuckGo
• Zuula Search

Cert IV Library, Information and Cultural Services: In 1937, two women wore shorts out in public for t...

I had no idea that women wearing shorts in public for the first time caused traffic accidents. How daring!

Cert IV Library, Information and Cultural Services: In 1937, two women wore shorts out in public for t...: In 1937, two women wore shorts out in public for the first time. They drew a huge amount of male attention and caused a car accident.

Fascinating Facts About the Library of Congress

Beautiful Libraries Around the World

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The Daring Librarian: 4 Easy Steps to Embed a Tweet: Did ya know that you can easily embed your Tweets in blog posts or wikis? Sure can! It's sorta buried, but I'll show you in 4 easy...

How the National Library of Australia Uses Different Social Media Platforms

The National Library of Australia (NLA) uses Facebook, Twitter and Flickr to interact with their users. The NLA uses Facebook effectively to promote items in their collection such as the Batak Bark Book made by the people of northern Sumatra. They also use Facebook to inform users about services and events including talks, launches, conferences, lectures, seminars, festivals and exhibitions. In addition, the NLA posts videos, photos, information about new acquisitions and shares links to resources about the library on Facebook.

Twitter is used by the NLA to provide news, make announcements, advertise events and promote items in the collection. The messages communicated by the library on Facebook and Twitter are similar, however, because Twitter has limited characters the content is much shorter. Like their Facebook page, the library's Twitter account contains many photos and links to their blogs as well as to other relevant websites.

Selected photographic images from the NLA's collection are displayed on Flickr. Users can select and browse an album on the National Library of Australia Commons. These images have no known copyright restrictions so are available for public download.

Benefits and Disadvantages of Using Multiple Social Media Platforms

Today, many libraries, businesses and other organisations use more than one social medial platform to communicate with their clients and promote their services. According to the Social media update 2013 published by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, "42% of online adults use multiple social networking sites". By diversifying onto other platforms, organisations can reach a wider audience and broaden their profile usually for free. Of course, different platforms have unique benefits. Facebook, for example, is a great way for organisations to promote their "brand" through sharing information about activities, contests, updates video and pictures. On the other hand, Twitter allows organisations to engage in conversations about them as they're happening. Twitter is also a great platform to announce new products or services. Therefore, organisations are able to communicate in different ways with their clients by using different social media platforms.

Using multiple social media platforms, however, may become very time consuming. Content must be created, edited, approved and published; comments must be responded to and sites and pages must be maintained. In order to get the full benefit of each platform, it is necessary for organisations to know when and how to use them. Incorrect use may have a detrimental impact on an organisation's reputation.

Behind the Tudors: The British Library

As I enjoyed the television series, "The Tudors", I found this video about a special exhibition at the British Library to celebrate the 500th anniversary of King Henry VIII's coronation quite interesting.  

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Things I Love About Libraries No. 3

Libraries provide a place to work...

...AND PLAY!