SirsiDynix Institute

I thought I'd talk a little more about the SirsiDynix Institute. If you work in a library and are not familiar with this Institute, I suggest you visit their site. It provides a great "free" learning opportunity for library staff. In addition to the podcasts, you can attend the events live. To participate in the live "conferences" or web seminars you need to pre-register.

You can also go to see the archived video presentation that that gives you the visual along with the audio information. One past topic was RSS feeds. The video starts quickly and it is smooth listening & viewing.

The August 14, 2007 session was on creating a 2.0 Library. (link to the video version). What I found interesting about this session was in the first half, the speaker talked about a project in their library that was not a technology based application. They created a "Travel neighbourhood" where resources relating to travel were put in a separate section. You could still find a specific title via the catalog but it was great for browsing too. Circulation improved. The second half dealt with the library's web site.

For your information OSNGUPL is a SirsiDynix customer with our Unicorn library management software.

Podcasts - learning method great for auditory learners

Podcasts are another learning vehicle. Each of us learn in different ways -- seeing (visual learners) hearing (auditory learners) and by doing (tactile learners). Generally, we have a favourite learning style. This web site outlines more learning styles.

If you learn well by listening, podcasts are made for you. There are a number of ways to find podcasts. There are directories for this specific purpose. I was amazed at the number of podcasts that are available on a wide range of topics. I like to know the background of the podcaster - what are their qualifications?

A wiki article entitled Podcasting 101 includes LIS friendly podcasts as well as an explanation of podcasts.

Through a search relating to Library 2.0 at http://podcastalley.com/ , I found the SirsiDynix Insitute podcasts. These are learning podcasts for those working in libraries. The challenge to downloading is the time that it takes to do so. I tried a 28 MB file and it took 15 minutes to download. Most of the files are over 50 MB. Using this means, it appears you can only download and listen on your computer but not to save them to listen to later. This is a link to the SirsiDynix Institute website.

I added a Bloglines feed for Family Roots Radio. I had heard about this through a mailing list. Last season they did 13 sessions. What I like about this set is that there are different options. They maintain a website where you can find the Internet links they are talking about and follow the instructions as you listen to the podcast. I only listened to one of the programs live last year as I always seemed to be busy when they were on at 4 p.m. EST on Thursdays. The host of the radio program is noted professional genealogist Kory Meyerink. Profiles of the guest speakers are outlined on the web site. When I was in Salt Lake City for a research academy course through the National Institute for Genealogical Studies, he was one of my instructors.

I have downloaded several to my hard drive (this is one of the options) and I want to download the rest. While I download the files, I just go about my household chores. By having the web site available. several learning styles are accommodated at the same time. - auditory, visual and tactile (if you visit the web sites as they talk about them.).

I hope that they will continue the series. Genealogists and reference librarians serving genealogists will find this series helpful.