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Friday, May 30, 2008

Future of Libraries



Stephen Abram (bookmark his blog Stephen's Lighthouse) looked into his crystal ball and presented his forecast on the Future of Libraries in his recent powerpoint presentation. You can also view his presentation at the ACURIL 2008 conference (held in Montego Bay Jamaica) on Inspiring and Engaging our Communities and Users.

Library 2.0 Webinars and Tutorials



If you, like me, sometimes feel overwhelmed with the 2.0 phenomenon you must read Jessica Merritt's 100 Free Library 2.0 Webinars and Tutorials. This comprehensive guide covers the following topics:

Getting Started
Usefulness
Social libraries
Communication
Data
Online Learning
Specific Tools
Collaborations and Distribution
Improving Appeal and Service
Staff
General

Friday, May 9, 2008

Taste of Trinidad



In a travel feature for the New York Times, writer Sam Sifton and photographer Chris Ramirez created a "tasteful" video of some of the eating choices for visitors to Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago. As Sam describes it in his opening narrative, Port of Spain is one of the "great eating towns of the Caribbean" and Chris and I sought to "devour it all." The video presents vivid images of unique Trinidad and Tobago delicacies like roti, doubles, bake and shark, jerk pork, and sweet plantains. And for those of us who associate the Caribbean with exotic drinks there is Carib beer, and local rum (dark and light). To end it all there is a beautiful image of the white sandy beaches of Maracas Bay on the north coast.

Kudos to Sam for this unsolicited publicity of my native isle.

Link to video: Taste of Trinidad

Monday, May 5, 2008

New Book - The Successful University Library in a Developing Country.



My colleague and fellow blogger The Caribbean Librarian recently wrote a book titled The Successful University Library in a Developing Country. Congratulations are in order for Jennifer Papin-Ramcharan who works at the Main Library, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. This book is a must read if you want to know about problems associated with managing university libraries in developing countries and practical solutions for solving these problems.

Here is a summary from amazon.com:
This book studies university libraries in developing countries against the backdrop of an increasingly inter-connected and interdependent world. The book suggests that finding solutions to problems of university libraries in developing countries is a matter of ensuring that 'global knowledge' is of the highest quality and is not just for altruistic reasons. It describes the many problems associated with the running of university libraries in developing countries and considers what it takes for these libraries to be successful. The book includes case studies of university libraries in several developing countries in regions including Africa, India and The Caribbean. Presenting the perspectives of practitioners and library users, solutions presented are practical and relevant.It is authored by a librarian and a member of the faculty of a university in a developing country. It gives the perspectives of both librarians and users of university libraries. It includes contributions from librarians in several developing country regions including Africa, India and The Caribbean. It addresses not only the problems of developing country university libraries but also offers practical solutions.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Download Caribbean music at trinidadtunes.com



Kudos to my colleague The Caribbean Librarian for pointing out that there is now a legal source for downloading Caribbean music (specifically Trinidad and Tobago music). The site trinidadtunes.com provides access to all types of genres: calypso, christmas, chutney, gospel, hip-hop, rapso, reggae, soca, spoken word, steelband and world. You can search for your favorite song/s, by artist, song or album, add your selection to your shopping basket, pay by credit card (99 cents per song) and download, all in a matter of seconds.

There are additional features which I like: the ability to listen to snippets of the song you select, a listing of the week top albums and week top songs, biographical information about each singer. Try it!!!