Around T-Town: Gypsy Coffee House and Cyber Café

Received an invitation from a friend to see his band Apollo Movement  perform at Gypsy Coffee House. Being that I’d no idea where Gypsy is located, I went online and did a little research.

Here’s a map I found on Google:

And an image I found on flickr:
© Caribe Fotos

And some reviews I found on Yelp:

• “It scares me. . .I feel like there is. . . something illegal” going on.
• “The coffee is aweful, . . .[the] patrons are. . .high school mallcore kids and extremely creepy old men.”
• “I met. . . many. . .friends, lovers, and others.”
• “Great coffee. . .setting and atmosphere. . .Nice folks.”
• “I definitely felt a little old and out of place, and I’m only 33!”
• “Cool laid back coffee house. . .Age isn’t too big a factor, mostly college age to unobtrusive elders.”

Intrigued by the bipolar reviews, I determined to attend and assess.

To be continued. . .

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Notes taken at the OK-ACRL Conference

To my contemporaries who could not attend: I hope you find these notes useful. 

To guest speakers Dr. Silver and Dr. Connaway: I hope you don’t consider this an infringement upon your intellectual property rights (if you do, however, please advise). 

Notes taken during guest speaker Dr. David Silver’s presentation:

1. In order to capture the interest of “the Viagra Generation, we need to teach curiosity.” (Didn’t a radical of yore teach in this manner, then end up ingesting hemlock? ;-)
2. Wikipedia is the “greatest literary report of our time . . . it grows in the direction society determines.” (Debate, anyone?)
3. There is a “library gene” that causes one to say to others, “if you like this, read this.”
4. “Libraries are the only institution in America that’s free.”
5. The difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0:
   1. 1.0 consists of lecture; 2.0 consists of conversation.
   2. 1.0 consists of the individual creating information; 2.0 consists of the community creating information.
   3. 1.0 requires refined tech skills; 2.0 can be performed by a novice (i.e., 1.0 is exclusive; 2.0 is inclusive)
6. Web 2.0 is creating links between libraries and students and communities (via blogs, wikis, etc.)
7. “Low tech and low labor should be the goal. We are all busy.”
8. Yelp is a great resource for restaurant reviews and locations.
9. September Project is a worthy endeavor for those interested in improving their community.
10.  Feevy is a great substitute for the traditional blog roll.
    1. Visit Dr. Silver’s blog, Silver in SF,  for an up-and-running example (The template I am currently using for this blog has no widgets that allow the insertion of html code required to use Feevy – or none I was able to determine :-(

 Notes taken during guest speaker Dr. Lynn Silipigni Connaway’s presentation:

1. Screenagers don’t want to be taught; they just want the answer.
2. Interestingly, however, these same screenagers prefer face-to-face contact when requesting assistance from a librarian, rather than instant message assistance.
3. If they have to be taught to use it, they won’t use it (I think it all depends on what “it” is. For example, I’ve yet to meet a teen who didn’t want to be taught to drive ;-)
4. “Libraries should be like coffee houses,” i.e. allow food and drink.
5. “Librarians should be less intimidating.” (Is this where 2.0 comes in?)
6. “Libraries should market their services.” (refer to aside above)
7. “Libraries should have drive by book drops.”
8. Librarians should wear name badges or some other form of identification so patrons know who to go to for help (or who to avoid, if intimidated ;-)
9. Google’s search box is multidisciplinary; the typical library’s subject index is not. (Which, of course, makes Google a far more attractive resource to the modern multi-tasker.)
10. Most go to the library for personal information on something they know little about (e.g., medical information); most go to a search engine (e.g., Google) if they have some knowledge of a particular subject and can evaluate sources independently.

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