And… The last set of best of the best tweets from Monterey Internet Librarian 2009 for today. This second half of the day didn’t seem to be as exciting as the first half. Maybe all these librarians are wearing down at the end of the day and after lunch? But overall, I’ve been pretty excited about all of the great ideas that are coming out for #il2009.

@lisacarlucci great idea – UHouston collaborated w prof teaching iPhone app dev; now class is building apps for the library
This is an outstanding collaboration to get the work done. But how about an Application competition?

@craftyLib Great nugget from optimizing web presence is you get more honest results by watching users test than asking what they want
People are more honest from their actions instead of their words? I think my grandmother used to say something like that! I totally agree and never thought about applying my grandmother’s wisdom this way.

@Carravagio Wants this new Worldcat app that uses barcode pictures to find nearby libraries that own the item
This is going to be awesome at Borders or Barnes and Noble! If only the Worldcat search results page was even mildly intuitive or easy to use.

@grrb Promotional badges for library products and services on your webpage look like banner ads, and’ll be ignored like banner ads.

@Carravagio Why haven’t I heard of this before? http://www.boopsie.com/home/ Too cool!
This is an awesome way to quickly and cheaply make phone apps, but they do want you to pay for it. It looks to me like you can’t design or build them yourself like you can do with widgets on widgetbox.com

http://twitter.com/gretchenhams: ppl huddled around outlets w/their devices r like the 21st century Smokers Circle.
You crazy internet librarian addicts!

@gretchenhams Nothing against marketing but idea of using prizes as bribes to get people to sign up bothers me on a personal level

@buffyjhamilton: Here is a neat app called “Margins” http://bit.ly/2GyheA
This is a fun app, I’m getting it as soon as my phone charges. Stores info about the book that you are “writing” in while studying. Easy and fast way to reference your notes later.

@lisacarlucci “if we are only teaching keyword searches in info lit sessions, we are going to be seen as hopelessly out of date”

@shifted I love that http://www.worthingtonlibraries.org/ has “more cowbell” on the home page!
There are quite a few discussions about creating a sense of “whimsy” in libraries, or breaking down the stereotype that libraries are stuffy sophisticated places. What a great place to break that down on the homepage of the library.

@jenica26 Action verbs for website, like Visit and Research. User-focused verbs; Borrow rather than Lend. Makes “inviting” online space.

@weelibrarian: “you won’t know what your users want if you don’t know what they already use.” start here.