Monday morning: digital books

From the Internet Archive:

The Wonder Clock
Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales
Grimm's fairy tales

Friday Fluff: Virtual worlds

Screenshots from World of Warcraft.

The lost art of reading (or, "How do you get your patrons to read your library signs"), Part 2

5. Less is more.
Your patrons have a very short attention span when it comes to signs. Write your signs in a clear, concise manner.

6. Make extras.
Make extra copies to refresh your signs (if these signs will be around for longer than a week). Colored paper and ink will fade over time, deteriorating at different rates (depending on the environment) even if the only light that hits the paper is a fluorescent light.

7. Some people just won't read your sign. Ever.
No matter what you do, there are some patrons who will never, ever, read (or acknowledge) your signs. For these people, your only option is to point to the sign when they say, "But it's not posted anywhere!", smile, and try not to smack them.

8. The library is your petrie dish. Experiment!
If your signs don't seem to be working, keep tinkering with them. Keep an eye on patron behavior and reactions to signs. Eventually, you will figure out what works and what does not work for your patron base.

The lost art of reading (or, "How do you get your patrons to read your library signs"), Part 1

einstein
Originally uploaded by sahsha_a

1. No one will read your signs if they are on white paper.
The brighter the color, the better. Libraries (save for the children's section) are usually short on color. Your white signage will disappear against a white wall, or wall with a neutral color.

2. No one will read your signs if the font is tiny.
The larger the type, the better. Using the default letter sizes, 36 should be as small as you go. Also, be picky about what fonts you use. Big, bolder fonts will catch the viewers eye. If you use Times New Roman, Courier, Comic Sans (and similar fonts), you might as well paste up blank sheets of paper on the wall.

3. Use clip art sparingly.
If you have to use clip art, stick with a black & white image, or use flat color clip art illustrations. Gradients can look terrible when you photocopy them- if you have to use an image, you want it to stay the same and be recognizable no matter the size, or printing.

4. Your signs are your in-house marketing/advertising.
A sign that uses polite wording will be ignored just as readily as a sign with negative wording. Go for humor instead. If you can combine a funny/out of the ordinary sign ( like our handy Einstein on the right), all the better. Your sign will be harder to miss or ignore.

More tomorrow.

Buyer remorse.

That's probably what many iPhone owners are feeling now that Steve Jobs has announced a $200 price cut for the phone. A new iPod with the same interface as the iPhone, called the iTouch, has also been announced. Also announced- Apple will be partnering with Starbucks to offer song downloads (straight to your iPod) from participating Starbucks locations.

Final photo post (for today)

Flickr Postcard Browser will present your search results as if they were postcards. All you need to do is type in your keywords (the search field is located in the bottom left corner), hit enter, and the page will display your results. After clicking on/zooming in to a search result you can go to the photographer's Flickr page, or click on the image again to zoom back out.

If Flickr showcases the new, this certainly showcases the old.

Slate maintains an archive of old photos (courtesy of magnum photos), and they display a new set every day. Today, the set is dedicated to Jack Kerouac's On the Road.

Photos on the web

IMG_0216
Originally uploaded by sahsha_a

Besides using Flickr as a place to dump my photos*, it's a nice site to visit if you want to see a candid view of the world. Not every photo on Flickr is amazing- no one takes amazing photos every time they take a photo (even if that's what they want you to believe). But if you start wandering around the site (by using Flickr's handy Explore menu) you are bound to see sights that you might never see anywhere else. If you don't want to bother with the Explore menu, use tags to narrow what images you are searching for. I will probably be posting some more photos to Flickr this week, just as soon as I remember to pull my camera's battery from the charger.

*(If you look to the right, you'll see my Flickr photo badge on the sidebar, just below the 'About Me' section. Clicking on that photo will take you to my Flickr page, where you can see all the photos I have on display.)