Lori Ayre's blog

RFID technology for libraries still suffers from a lack of standards. Early adopters bought tags that aren't necessarily usable with today's RFID systems. RFID readers, security systems and materials handling systems are often purchased from a single vendor in order to ensure that all the components and tags work together. Tags that any library buys today will not necessarily work with all the circulation or security components a library might like to use in the future. One of the big standards hurdles is a data model standard.

I've been enjoying playing around with Facebook the last few weeks and one of the things I really like about it is the control I have over who I connect with, information I share with different groups of people, what applications I can install and how I organize them on my public site and my internal site.
And those applications - there are tons of them because anyone can write one. Facebook provides great tools for potential Facebook developers. And each app is a breeze to install.

I recently did a delivery evaluation for the North Suburban Library System and had the opportunity to meet Sarah Long, Director of NSLS.

This whole kerfuffle over Obama's "bitter" statement demonstrates what is so wrong with the so-called journalists of today and politics in general. Here's another situation where we can only say....thank god for bloggers. Here's how David Coleman (a Huffington Post blogger) described what Obama was doing at the time the statement was made. Evidently the statement was made in response to a campaign volunteer volunteer who was going to go out and talk to Pennsylvanians on Obama's behalf.

The new Cloudbook is an ultralight PC (2 lbs) with all open source software installed including Open Office which provides a very nice substitute to the oh so pricey Microsoft Office suite.

At a cost of only $399, this might be a very nice option for libraries thinking about making laptops available to their users.

Not only is the OS (gOS Rocket) and the applications Open Source (Mozilla Firefox, gMail, Meebo, Skype, Wikipedia, GIMP, Blogger, YouTube, Xing Movie Player, RythemBox

I struggled quite a bit with my decision to vote for Obama in the California primary but since then, it has become crystal clear to me that I made the right decision. At least it's the right decision for me.

I submit two excellent creations that speak to the head and the heart and explain why it is so important for Barack Obama to become our next president:

Do you understand that you can incorporate automated check-in machines and sorters for your library without taking on the enormous costs associated with RFID tags? Self check out is old news. Everyone is doing it (or should be) and they are getting a very high rate of self checkout use (85% and higher) with and without RFID. If you are NOT getting 85% self check on your machines it properly has more to do with where the bar codes are located, whether everything in your library is indeed self check out-able.

I was part of the panel Transforming Your Library, and Your Library's Future, with Technology held at ALA this year. I spoke with Casey Bisson and Roy Tennant. I went first and approached the transformation issue from a big, physical technology point of view arguing that we need to use less of our library spaces for books and start using the library space to ensure our users have a productive experience. We have to do more than warehouse books in our libraries.