What's in a name... Zamzar??

OK so I was supposed to write about how awesome Zamzar is in my 2nd post, but decided to run with another thought...

SO... here is the Zamzar post:


I think Zamzar is a great tool. It's easy to use, you can convert up to 1 Gb for free, you can sign up for a generously sized mailbox etc etc.. And works fine with the more superior and sophisticated  Mac OS X platforms like mine (am I in danger of starting a PC vs Mac argument here?!) cos it's web based.

Will definitely use it next time we get a docx file on certain PCs with older versions of Office on them!

What I thought was MORE interesting is

•  the LISTwhich Zamzar ended up on, for being the 6th worst application name!
• the name Zamzar has a literary connection. (Virtual) Chocolate fish to the person who can tell me what it is? (hint: think short story by Bohemian existentialist author,  or just click HERE if you give up!)

So that's my thoughts on Zamzar...

Pairing up people with books - how hard should we try??

Yesterday I went to the Bestsellers course which is a Reader's Advisory service that is "supposed" to be core to what libraries do. There were many elements that I enjoyed about the whole thing, but what got me quite excited was that a key factor in the whole process of reader's advisory is in knowing and listening to the customer. This is interesting to me personally because one of the other hats I wear is as a music therapist and over the years I have done a lot of listening to people and their music, intuiting their unspoken thoughts and feelings, and providing a way forward. What I do now may seem quite different in form, but in essence it is very much the same: listening, discerning and recommending a solution.  After the session my head was buzzing with 1) all the books that I want to read, having discovered some really cool websites  2) ideas and inspiration on how we can develop this aspect of our service to our people at our dear little branch, and bring back the focus to  BOOKS

From what I know about my branch in my short 6 months or so of being there, getting a book into the hands of many of our customers is challenging enough. We have resorted to bribing getting kids to tell us verbal book reviews in exchange for bookbags, new cards etc!Interesting it has worked with some.

I think of a teenager who recently declared to me that he was not interested in anything (except hopping on Learnnet to do gaming of course!!) and so wouldn't bother to pick up a book. If I may venture, the subtext in his statement might be "I can't read very well, what's the use of trying, I won't understand it anyway". So what can we do? What can I do? Is it our problem that he can't read, won't read? I don't know.  Should we not put more thought into encouraging more reading programmes among our young people who never had significant adults read to them, never discovered the right book for them, never experienced the joy of reading?


I believe libraries are mainly about people and helping to meet their needs. (ok, sweeping statement by an Idealist!) It's not just about collections and processes, and maybe that is why I like this job so much. I am reminded again of Stephanie Johnson's recent talk at the library big day out, that a library is there for the people. Perhaps we have let down our customers when we have failed to introduce them to this wonderful wonderful world of books and reading and information that we are so in love with ourselves.

But I really can only speak for myself. I am determined to find ways and means to get the right book into the hands of my aforementioned teenager. So watch this space!

ps.  try THIS site (if you haven't already done so) for a new way to choose a book.

OK, blog time...

So.. this is the 3rd or 4th blog that I have attempted to start up... and hey it's actually a WORK one! So I can have fun and map my mind on virtual paper and get paid for it! Pretty cool to me! :) It might even compell me to resurrect my other blogs!

I would consider myself a seasonal blogger. If there is something worth saying I decide to write about it. I am more active on Facebook than anything else these days, if not to read what my many friends in far flung places around the world are up to (and to return the favour by updating my status) then to check in to my Playfish games, where numerous godkids, neices, nephews and mates are involved in the fun virtual community of growing and feeding their pets, or planting and harvesting crops, or dabbling in the F & B industry (one of the more competititive players on Restaurant City happens to be my hubby!!) and so on and so forth!! There are many ways to waste time and call it social networking!

But I digress... we are talking about the real world, and about blogging.

So this blogging season of mine is part of the  Web 2.0 programme which is a kind of appetiser to what the WORLD WIDE WEB offers, and what we as library staff are supposed to have at our fingertips, and week 1 is about blogging.

So what shall I blog about??

Since libraries are about information exchange and sharing new ideas (or old ideas in a new way!), I thought I might blog regularly about interesting sites and links that I find while trawling the web for some new curiosity... I will also add the odd idea or random thought floating in my head from time to time.

To start off with, I found  THIS interesting link listing 70 stats about bloggers (eg. 2/3 of bloggers are male!) It's food for thought, and I can't help but wonder where in the stats I might fit.  I am not sure if I will be the one in five who will update their blog daily, but maybe weekly will be a more realistic target. Or maybe I am secretly among the 35% of bloggers who say they will one day publish a book!

I will end off with a random thought about bookcases. Our friends who own like a million books just got some nice old rimu bookcases from Trademe, and they were used last century to shelve library books in Waitakere somewhere, I forget which library exactly! I thought how cool is that (I realise though, that not all of you would think this is exciting!) Now I haven't actually put that thought into action and gone onto TM to look for any. Many of our books are sitting in neat piles on the floor, or packed away in boxes to be savoured another day. (some of my most beloved books are sitting in boxes in my family home thousands of miles away waiting for me to retrieve them!) And I intend to look for some old library furniture to lovingly display these tomes.

Sometime. Someday.

Anyone know where I can get a good bargain? :)