As I said in my last entry I'm at Computers in Libraries. Computers in Libraries, as you might expect, is about using technology to the best effect in libraries.

I can hear you yawning from here. Oh, like better card catalogs? Digitizing books? Tracking circulated items better? Yes, all of that. But also organizing video game tournaments in the library, and designing customized Firefox extensions so that students can have toolbars customized for their library resources.

Sound a little more like it? Those two topics were the offerings of Scott Rice from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Giz Womack of Wake Forest University. They had a session Wednesday afternoon.

Scott Rice was up first, and showed a toolbar he had designed for Firefox users at UNC-G. (Networked Information Services Librarian and programming nerd! Most excellent!) The toolbar allows users quick access to University Web pages, different database and catalog searches, and library and reference resources. It also integrates with some of Google's search services so a student can search for an article at Google Scholar and learn at the same time if the article is available in UNC-G's holdings. Nifty stuff.

Even if you're not a librarian the idea of creating your own Firefox toolbar might have some appeal. Are there sites and databases that your business uses all the time? Maybe they would make a good toolbar. Scott included a pointer to creating your own Firefox tutorial. You can check it out at http://www.borngeek.com/firefox/tutorial .

Next speaker up was David "Giz" Womack, who had amazing amounts of energy for a guy giving the last talk of a keynote-and-five-session day. Giz was one of the folks at Wake Forest University who helped organize video game nights at the library. To tempt students to the library, Giz and his team acquired projectors and screens (to play the games) as well as getting lots of pizza and soda. And it worked -- dozens of students showed up (bringing their own gaming equipment, no less!) to hang out and play at the library. And the librarians got to meet the gaming students -- when some of the librarians would show up and peek around the door to look at the gamers, Giz would greet them with a cheery, "Come on in! It's like Mars!" (And the response from the audience was amazing -- one public librarian has had Dance Dance Revolution tournaments at her library!)

Kudos to two North Carolinians for giving excellent examples of library outreach at Computers in Libraries. And a big kudos to NCSU's Andrew Pace, who got a mention at CiL's Wednesday night session for his work in online catalog design. You go Andrew!

Who says all the tech in NC is at RTP? We've got our libraries!