Nope, the blog title is not a mistake. I think there is a lot to get excited about when it comes to libraries, archives, and creating knowledge. But my question is, why don’t people get excited about stuff? Or perhaps I should rephrase to: why don’t people show that they are excited? I know that some people get excited, but it seems like the majority of people simply try to downplay any showing of emotion. And I understand the social and cultural reasons why we have to keep emotions in check, etc., etc.. But I think that being excited about your work, or new discoveries, or the fact that your favorite author has a new novel out, is totally natural and a good thing. It means you are not a robot. So to celebrate, here are some fun and helpful things that might not make you get up and do a happy dance, but will hopefully help you in some small way.

Did you read Goodnight Moon as a child? Do you like Star Wars? If so, you will love Goodnight Forest Moon. It is available to download along with instructions for assembling the book. People’s creativity never ceases to amaze me.

Not particularly fun, but very useful is the article: Do a Total Background Check on Yourself. It is good to check and correct any errors you find–this is more comprehensive by far than simply Googling yourself. (Side note, does anyone else get weirded out when people say they’ve Googled you? Or is that just me?)

Back to the amazing, fun, and used for the betterment of books, QR Codes. Ever since I saw this amazing video, I’ve been fascinated with QR Codes:

So, of course, you can imagine my excitement over this article on How to Make Your Personal QR Code. Technology can be so much fun! Just think, you could make QR codes as part of marketing your library’s programs or as fun ways to link to updates about library news. I think the students I teach will love this–QR Codes are a hit in class while learning about copyright is not, go figure.

If you post a lot of photos online, or are in charge of creating websites, this application will help: Web Resizer. It resizes your photos to bandwidth friendly sizes. This is a huge help if you don’t have Photoshop and don’t have a ton of photos to process. And it is free.

Finally, to end on a fun note, for everyone who needs a bit of validation (and really, who doesn’t like a compliment and validation?), check out this lovely video (thanks to KarraCrow over at …fly over me, evil angel… for posting this:

Read lots, there will be more tech and library fun coming soon and just remember, you are awesome!