Welcome to iLibrarian

Nerma Moore at the Social Media Examiner tells us How to Write a Great Blog Post in Just 15 Minutes. This handy article provides five practical tactics to help you write stellar posts in a fraction of the time.

• Tactic #1: Plan Your Writing
• Tactic #2: Create a Headline Bank
• Tactic #3: Time Yourself (Watch the Clock)
• Tactic #4: Use the “Series Approach”
• Tactic #5: Get to “the Meat of the Problem”

Jacob Gube at Mashable posts about 10 Tools for Getting Web Design Feedback. If you’re designing a new website, or redesigning an old one and want to gather users’ reactions, these are great resources. Each of the tools listed includes a feature review and screenshot.

Have you thought about posting spoken word tweets? Amy-Mae Elliott at Mashable gathers a list of five services which will enable you to Send an Audio Tweet. All of the applications listed are free of charge, don’t require a phone, and are easy to use.

The folks at Eloqua have published a free Social Media Playbook. This 42-page ebook is a guide to organizational use of 10 different social media platforms. Here are some of the highlights:

• Do you know how to weave Twitter “trending topics” into your communications mix?
• Are you are aware that Wikipedia articles are governed by 50 rules and 100 guidelines?
• Is your sales team “vulturing” online? (Do you know what “vulturing” is?)
• Have you considered a tiered administrative structure for your Facebook Fan Page?
• Which social platform promises, “Only the good stuff”?
• Should you join foursquare or Gowalla?
• What iPhone app is the best RSS reader?

Vadim Lavrusik gathers the Top 20 Sites to Improve Your Twitter Experience. Each section of this useful list reviews the features of third-party websites that will make your Twitter experience more effective. Here’s what’s covered:

• Web Applications: HootSuite and Brizzly
• Filtering Through the Noise: TwitterTimes and Paper.li
• Trends: TweetMeme and Trendistic
• Twitter Lists: Tlists and PubliTweet
• Hashtag Stats: TwapperKeeper
• Embedding Tweets: QuoteURL
• Location: MapMash.in and Monitter
• Discovery: WeFollow and Twellow
• Influence: Klout and TwitterCounter
• Photos and Videos: TwitPic and yfrog
• Polls: PollDaddy and TwtPoll

Vitaly Friedman writes for Smashing Magazine about 50 Useful Tools and Resources For Web Designers. This comprehensive guide is a fantastic resource for all things Web design. It’s broken up into the following categories:

• Typography
• Bookmarklets
• CSS, HTML and JavaScript Tools
• Useful Online Tools and Services
• Useful References and Guides
• Usability and User Experience

And if that’s not enough, head over to the Web Design Ledger for a list of 10 Free Online Books for Web Designers.

Jason Fitzpatrick at Lifehacker reviews the Five Best Book Recommendation Services. Each list entry includes a review of the website features, cost, and a screenshot. I rely on Amazon’s “Customers Who Bought This…” service as well as LibraryThing. What’s your favorite?

Matt Silverman at Mashable gathers up 31 Essential Social Media Resources You May Have Missed. This list includes the latest in social media, tech, and mobile articles. Here are just a few:

• Why QR Codes Are Poised to Hit the Mainstream
• HOW TO: Develop iPhone Apps With Staying Power
• A Look Back at the Last 5 Years in Social Media
• My Facebook Story: An Inside Look at Facebook’s First Privacy Fiasco
• 11 Ways to Speed Up WordPress

The folks at Making Teachers Nerdy have put together a list of the Top 20 Websites No Teacher Should Start the 2010-2011 Year Without. If you’re an educator you’ll want to check out this list as it has a lot of great suggestions such as:

• Dropbox
• Prezi
• BeFunky
• Google Tools for Educators
• Zamzar

Cameron Chapman has written A Complete Guide To Tumblr at Smashing Magazine. This comprehensive resource includes everything from how to set up your Tumblelog to creating themes. The article is divided into the following sections:

• Why Use Tumblr?
• Getting Started
• Creating Custom Tumblr Themes
• Tumblr-Specific Memes
• Further Resources

Jeff Trzeciak, the University Librarian at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, writes about eliminating all of the reference desks in their libraries.

“Between 2009-2010 our Research Help Desk answered 21771 questions. As with many ARL libraries this number is down substantially. In 2005/2006 the desks answered 40934 questions and the number has declined steadily since. Now our users will have the convenience of a single service point and librarians will have their time freed up for interactions with faculty in their labs, offices and classrooms.”

via Tame the Web

Linda Holmes at NPR posits that The Next Big Pop-Culture Wave After Cupcakes Might Be Libraries. Why you ask? Be sure to read the full article for details, but here’s a quick list of reasons:

• Libraries get in fights.
• Librarians know stuff.
• Libraries are green and local.
• Libraries will give you things for free.
• “Open to the public” means “some days, you really have to wonder about people.”
• There seems to be a preposterous level of goodwill.

Grace Smith at Mashable rounds up 10 Free Wireframing Tools. If you’re designing, or redesigning a website and you don’t have something like Microsoft Visio available, you might try one of these free tools to make your wireframes. I’ve tried Mockingbird and found it easy to use, I can’t wait to test out the others. I’d add one other app to this list and that’s Mocksup which will let you upload website mockups and add links to create a prototype of your website for user testing, etc.

Google has released App Inventor for Android, a visual interface for creating applications for mobile phones utilizing the Android operating system. This is big news because App Inventer requires NO programming knowledge, enabling everyone to create their own apps.

The folks at Educause have put together a new “7 Things” guide, covering 7 Things You Should Know About LMS Alternatives. As usual, the quick reference source answers the following questions, this time about Learning Management Systems:

1. What is it?
2. How does it work?
3. Who’s doing it?
4. Why is it significant?
5. What are the downsides?
6. Where is it going?
7. What are the implications for teaching and learning?