Welcome to Our World!

Welcome to Tech Tips for Every Librarian, your monthly guide to cost-effective, easily implemented, and otherwise eminently doable technology solutions for your library. Yes, we said your library, and we do mean that! No matter how small, how isolated, or how short on staff or time or money you are, Tech Tips will contain technological solutions you can use. Recognizing that the majority of libraries are small libraries, Tech Tips will give everyone ideas for using technology for maximum impact-with minimum outlay.

While writers about technology in libraries often make assumptions about your technological know-how and technical background (or just pretend that you have a good deal of money to throw around), we work from none of those presuppositions. If you are in a small library or a cash-strapped institution, or if you just have little technical experience, you are reading the right department in CIL. We will explain straight out what you need to know, what you need to do, and where you can go for more information. We will show you how other similarly situated institutions have been successful with a variety of projects. We will talk about ways to better serve your patrons-and you-with the judicious use of technology. Throughout, we will focus on using various methods to stay current, to keep you and your library relevant, and to make an impact.

If, on the other hand, you are one of the lucky ones who has the resources to implement large-scale, costly projects, we will show you, too, how to find some alternatives. We believe that "simple" is sometimes better and that "easy" frees up your time for other initiatives. Every librarian today can benefit from learning new ways to save money and from reading ideas about making an impact with technology; and any project, including the ones we will be outlining here, can be expanded when you have the resources to do so.

Every library and every librarian needs to find creative ways to implement technological solutions, no matter how small. We so often let technology intimidate us when, in a 21st-century library, we need to recognize technological solutions for the tools they are. You can complete an amazing number of projects with just a $5 screwdriver; you can make simple...