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With the recent news of Yahoo’s potential acquisition by vile Microsoft and its prior layoff of 1000 hardworking geeks, there was a bit of an air of piracy in the office last week.

Linden Lab is going into another round of recruitment, focusing on web developers, QA folk, and other nerdy types. If any web developers out there (you, yes, YOU Joy!) want to work in a more stable, hilarious, and weird environment, you might want to fill out an application to work at Second Life. Free beer, the Love Machine, and a frightening amount of RockBand can all be yours!

Linden seems to be where the socially-developed nerds go to work. There’s a much larger % of women, extroverts, parents, and charmers working at Linden than is considered industry standard. Which means you tend to not find yourself in conversations with dudes who can’t make eye contact with a girl, or folks who get REALLY EMOTIONAL about their code.

It’s good to be a god, too, even if it’s only in-world. You can read more about our wickedcool office culture in the Tao of Linden.

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So now that everyone else is finally home from ALA, I am still on the road. I left DC on Monday and have since been in Wichita, Kansas; Huntsville, Alabama and Minneapolis, Minnesota. (with airport stopovers in St. Louis, Missouri; Memphis, Tennessee and Dallas, Texas...) We fly to Chicago, Illinois tonight.

Have I signed up for a new position as a Quality Assurance tester for the airline industry?
Not quite, but it's starting to feel like it! We're actually working on the creative concept possibilities for the library advocacy marketing program we're working on, and testing them with consumers in focus groups.

We've heard a lot of inspiring reflections and ideas from these consumers. At this point, ideas seem to be around a combination of thoughts about what your libraries are like now, what people's perceptions of others of what your libraries are like now, what the other infrastructure elements are like in your town (police, schools, fire) and what's been going on in the local media.

For one community, the idea of upgrading your library with newer buildings and materials is really appealing. In another, the libraries are perceived to be already beautiful and the notion is that "they must have enough money, they built a new building last year."

All very very interesting. People DO CARE about what's going on in their libraries in their towns and neighborhoods. But sometimes the caring only comes out, once you ask them if they care.

I WILL post my notes and photos from the Symposium and other associated OCLC at ALA events...plus it was AWESOME to see so many people in person at the Blog Salon!!

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You've probably heard it already: the public library in Saugus, Mass. is closing. Close on the heels of the Jackson County public libraries closing... Media coverage includes:

• Library Journal
• Saugus Advertiser (local paper)
• LibVib (a library-focused podcast)

An April tax-override vote failed, and now apparently the city council must approve a trash fee in order to keep the library open and funded.

I wonder what the larger story is, behind the April vote. Did citizens not understand what was at stake? Or were they using the only poker chip they had--the vote--to send a clear message to city council that they did not approve of the way the city's funds were being handled?

In hearing from citizens who live in Medford and surrounding towns, the library's closing didn't seem quite *real* to people. Even as the doors were already closed, many people expressed an optimism along the lines of "some how, some way, truth, justice and rightness will prevail (and the library will re-open)."

I hope this is true in both of these communities. Situations like these are exactly what we're working on, with the Gates Foundation marketing grant.

Speaking of library marketing, have you read the Worth Their Weight report from ALC yet? I've sent away for it--still need to read it. It's all about demonstrating library ROI. Some comments from Brian about it.

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Here in Monterey, CA today. Have been in Southern and Central California all week and have realized that just because you pack like it's going to be sunny and gorgeous, do not mean mother nature will make it so. Cloudy, cold and chilly. It's warmer in New Hampshire!

But have been enjoying the West Coast, regardless. Am here as supportive companion for significant other, as he meets with researchers about his Ph.D. dissertation ideas. Luckily, with a laptop you can usually work from anywhere.

EXCEPT when there's no internet connections in your hotel room. "What?" you exclaim. "Are you staying in coastal monasteries, where they feed you only bread and wine?"

No actually, a really nice place in Marina, right on the ocean. But it turns out, this place is new enough that they haven't figured out how to relay the wifi signal out to the outlying buildings. So I am camped out here in the lobby for the past 7 hours. But you should have seen significant other's face drop, when he ascertained that no indeed, there was NO WIRELESS in the rooms. At the very least, they should put a sign up that explains they are working on it. Right now it looks like they remembered the fluffy bathrobes, the fancy folded towels and specially printed coffee napkins but forgot one of the mainstays of traveling life these days.

I had decided to go to the library to get online, but the branch closest to me did not have wifi enabled. The library was smart enough to let me know that upfront, so I didn't waste time driving around to find the location.

Will post photos of snoozing elephant seals, majestic redwoods and other novelties when I download the camera this weekend. For the time being, enjoy this article about the Four Habits of Highly Effective Librarians from Todd Gilman, a couple of days back in the Chronicle. His post reminded me of an insight I gained on Wednesday:

Many librarians do not feel qualified to do marketing activities, even when they know they'd like to (or need to) do them. My takeaway was to create more programs to help staff try things with little to no risk, to see successes and to devise ways to build on them. It's not so much a teaching and education thing, as a doing thing. I can read books about gardening all day long. It's no replacement for someone giving me a shovel, some seeds, and a pot to plant them in.

Just add sunshine. (Even in California in late May...)

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