moment you first spotted a pda in action? You're probably thinking, "does that woman have a life?"
Yes, I do, with a job I enjoy, husband, kids, and some hobbies besides blogging and pdas!
For some reason, I remember moments when I first meet someone or first become aware of something.
If you will share your story, I will share mine. I will give you a hint of a clue. The first pda I saw in action
was in 1998! If someone else will share a story, I will share mine! What first interested me in pdas was electronic books.
I recently worked on an electronic
book project using RCA REB 1100s and Franklin e-books in an English classroom. If you like you can read
the Final Report of the project. The Franklin
e-book had some pda capabilities to it, and the reaction of the students to these was one of the reasons I
became interested in pdas. Share your story. You can post it directly to the blog, or you can send it to me and
I will post it. Bill Drew, the wireless librarian, has promised he will share a story about his experiences with ipaqs!
What is special, fascinating, and addictive about reading blogs is not only the unique news that each brings with it,
but some of the witty commentary and insights the authors bring to the news. This is especially true of Jenny Levine's
The Shifted Librarian. Since this is a community blog, our blog may
develop a schizophrenic personality, but if I can quote Tom Peters' great idea about this blog,it is that we want to create a
sense of community, so if you read a great story about pdas or handhelds, include some commentary or description.
Everyone may not have time to read it, but your commentary would be greatly appreciated!
What makes a successful library pda project? The first ingredient is a supportive boss and staff to work with!
I work as a medical librarian at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center Library & Resource Center. When we first started our project to loan out Handspring Visors with medical content on them and to provide
training for medical residents, attending physicians, and medical staff, it quickly mushroomed into a grant
application, grant funding, and a lot of new issues to consider including staffing, support, and services which impacted the
whole library! I have to say that our library manager, Carol Galganski, did a terrific job of balancing all this and working with
me and the rest of the staff to make sure everything worked together. I also have two great colleagues, Carol Webber, who has done a tremendous job of promoting the pda project to patrons when she works with them, and Roy Jones, who oftentimes finds himself having to give an on the fly orientation when someone comes in and wants to check one out. It is amazing to me how quickly a
tentative or experimental service can quickly become overwhelming and suddenly a core service of the library. Without the support
of fellow-workers, such a project can die on the vine before it even has an opportunity to become successful. Because of these
great people, our pda services have become core, even though things are changing so rapidly, that the support services of the pda themselves may change. Tom Peters is serving as our grant evaluator, and has also provided a great deal of valuable insight into
our new service and our grant project. In developing training, which I will address another day, I have had a great partner in Peg Burnette, of the University of Illinois Chicago Library of the Health Sciences-Peoria. Check out our website if you are interested:
PDA Grant website. Funding for the grant was provided from the Illinois State Library.
Please share what you think makes a pda project, or pda services successful in your library. I would like to hear as even though we started in May 2001, the project keeps evolving and is really still in its infancy now. What makes your service successful? What could make us all more successful?
Tomorrow, I will talk about the e-book life and content for the pda.
Now, what you have probably been waiting for: the pda headlines from the IT sources.
Handspring to lower Visors price
"Business 2.0"
On Handhelds
IBM cans Palm
"IT-Analysis.com"
On Handhelds
Handspring plans Visor price cuts
"Interactive Week"
On Handhelds
IBM WorkPad No More!
On PDARealm.com: Your PDA Realm
Handspring Wireless Dev Site
On PDARealm.com: Your PDA Realm
Palm Slips But Maintains Worldwide Lead
On PDARealm.com: Your PDA Realm
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