Self-Discovery: there is a test for that!

George W. Bush.  Paul the Apostle.  Boromir.  Dana Scully.  What do they all have in common?  Supposedly they are all Myers-Briggs ESTJ (Extravert, Sensing, Thinking, Judging) personality types: strong willed, organizers, guardians, creators of order, and reliable.  How they got Boromir or Scully to take the test is beyond me.  ESTJs are also apparently stubborn, judgmental, struggle with unconventional solutions, and have difficulty relaxing.  I am an ESTJ personality type though I am a borderline...

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Info Tech Goes to Church (and Something Changes)

Churches have had a long history of adopting new media to communicate their message whether it was plays, the printing press, or contemporary film.  New technology offers resources that impact preaching by integrating multimedia in worship, expanding outreach through streaming services and podcasts, and providing live feedback through tools such as Twitter/chat.  The life of religious communities is also impacted by new communication technologies that blur the boundaries of local and remote participation and challenge traditional ideas of koinonia (fellowship). This year's annual conference at the Center for the Study of Information and Religion at Kent State University (June...

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Roaming bands of Librarians invade Moncton...

Doesn't strike terror in the heart does it? There really was a band but it was a ukulele jam.  For five days the Canadian Association of Law Librarians met in warm and sunny (!!!) Moncton, NB for their annual conference.  You can get a flavour of the conference by following the tweet stream from the conference. Great to see old friends and make new ones, and we will all remember the closing reception at Parlee beach when the power went out! I wanted to share a few of my favourite moments from the conference: Fred Headon, Chair of the...

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Oh to be the library's Alvin Toffler!

What is the future of library reference services?  On March 5, 2015 I had the privilege to speak on that topic with the students of the Nova Scotia Community College Library Technician program.  I've taught students in the Master of Library and Information Science program, but this is the first time speaking with this group.  They are a wonderful group of students, and they are keen to understand where their profession is heading.  The invitation came as a response to my request on the APLA listserv for innovative research support service examples.  I was curious what cool things were going on and so were these students. It was surprised by how few innovations were...

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Why don't you read my research?

Why don't you read my research?  My blog tagline is "Informing faith so faith can inform life."  I,like most researchers, hope that my research has an impact: it informs, illuminates, and changes my communities in a positive way.  I want my research to help churches and not-for-profits impact their own communities.  Universities and governments are also interested in researchers' impact.  Institutional reputation, grant funding, and knowledge mobilization are on their minds.  There is a lot more research out there. ...

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The Netflix Phenomenon Goes to Church

This past summer we finally cut the cable.  With AppleTV and subscriptions to iTunes and Netflix we rarely miss those 150 channels of "Friends" reruns.  Of course the limitation with any streaming service is that someone else sets the menu.  It is a wide menu so there is always something to watch. But where is Babylon 5?  And when do we get the next season of Murdoch Mysteries? My church recently signed up for a Netflix-like  subscription streaming video service: RightNow Media.  This service offers libraries of...

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