I had the pleasure to present my first conference program alongside my esteemed colleague Linda Braun yesterday.  We talked about apps at the Massachusetts Library Association Conference.  As when any two people who are enthusiastic about a topic are given room to run with it, we could have gone on quite a lot longer than our hour and fifteen minute time slot.  In an effort to economize on time, and deal with some inevitable technical difficulties, our presentation was a fast-talking, fun, and somewhat chaotic look at a bunch of apps we think are great and their potential for library applications.  Discussion was sparked, and various people stopped by throughout the rest of my conference day to say they were excited to experiment and learn more about apps.

To prepare for our presentation we used a Google Doc to create an annotated list of apps we wanted to recommend.  We weren’t able to discuss everything we listed, and our list is by no means comprehensive, but it is a selection of apps in various categories from gaming to art to academic, that we think you would enjoy.

Have a look at our document: Apps Apps Everywhere  and feel free to add some apps to our list.

We are creative people, we do a lot of creative things in our work, and we are subject to the kinds of fear and burnout that can come with being creative.  How do you fight burnout? Take inspiration wherever you can get it.

I find a lot of inspiration in other people acknowledging the struggles and triumphs of creativity. One person who inspires me is Ze Frank, who I believe I once referred to as the father of modern video blogging.  He had a successful Internet show, The Show with Ze Frank in 2006 and he is now, with the help of Kickstarter, returning to the Internet to start up a new show.

Ze says if you have an idea, you should just do it. Don’t worry about the skills or resources you might lack, just go for it. Because if you wait too long to get your idea out into the world, it becomes brain crack, an obsession with the perfect version of the idea that just gets more and more impossible to achieve.  So fight brain crack, take the leap, put your ideas in motion, and don’t be afraid to fail.

His latest video, an Invocation for Beginnings is about just that.

Disclaimer: There is a bit of swearing in this video. (As there is often a bit of swearing in the creative process). I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily NSFW, but I also wouldn’t watch this on a public desk with the volume all the way up.

As a part of redesigning the teen space at my library we were looking for a way to partition off some space without building an actual wall.  We thought about moving bookshelves, we daydreamed about sound proof glass, but nothing seemed feasible.  Until my director came up with an idea: what about movable partitions that you can hang things on?  Where would they go? Wherever we wanted. We could reserve the right to change our minds whenever we liked.  What would we hang on them? Colored paper? Teen programming information? We settled on sketchbooks, figuring that would make it easy for content to change.

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Title: Wreck This App
Cost: 4.99
Platform: iOS, Android
(this review refers to the iOS version)

Based on Keri Smith’s Wreck This Journal, Wreck this App is a collection of activities designed to awaken creativity through the power of destruction. Don’t worry no iPhones were harmed in the process of writing this post. The destruction this app inspires might take the form of defacing a photo, repurposing text, or using the various drawing tools to smear ink, cut up an image, or scribble all over the page. Other times the activities are more wacky  rather than actually destructive, designed to shake up your brain, like putting your fingers in your ears and touching your nose to cure hiccups. For example, you will be asked to draw a picture of something you dislike, connect a set of dots from memory,  and make a collage of photos of stickers found on fruit. (more…)

You have probably noticed that Pinterest is getting a lot of attention from teen librarians lately. If you have not seen this site for yourself, Pinterest is a social network/curation site based on the concept of a pinboard. Users share images by “pinning” them. Followers can see each other’s boards and “repin” images they like. It’s a great way to share programming ideas, with a clean, pleasant look and an easy-to-use interface. YALSA recently used Pinterest to share ideas for Teen Tech Week.

There has been plenty of chatter on the ya-yaac listserv about Pinterest as well, mostly singing its praises, but a thread titled ”Pinterest is awesome, but are we risking a lawsuit” gave me pause. In this thread, people linked to a couple of blog posts that expressed serious concerns with the copyright implications of “repinning” content and some conflicting messages between Pinterest’s terms of service and suggested use of the site.

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I’ve been trying to read more manga lately.  Manga in book form is very popular at my library, so I have been working on building up our print collection. My anime club kids are always telling me about new titles. There is also a lot of manga to be read electronically. Reading scanlated manga online has been a longtime habit of many fans, regardless of the copyright issues involved, (scroll down on this page for a good definition of scanlation) but more manga is becoming available electronically either for free or for reasonable prices.  It will  be nice if this encourages more fans to pay for content and support the creators whose work they enjoy. Even if it doesn’t, it does afford more options for consuming content for people who enjoy reading on their mobile devices. Viz Media and Yen Press, are two popular publishers making manga available via mobile app.  I decided to check out how these apps work and compare and contrast their features. (more…)

Title: Mango Languages
Cost: Free
Platform: iOS

Hello! Bonjour! Hola! おはようございます。 Ho There!

I like being able to say hello in different languages. So when I discovered that there is an app for one of the language learning databases available at my library, I thought I’d give it a try. Mango Languages includes 34 foreign languages, 14 English as a second language courses, and a Pirate course. For the purposes of this review, I went through the first lesson in two languages, Pirate (because seriously how could I resist?) and Japanese (I watch a lot of anime).
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Title: Cambox
Cost: .99
Platform: iOS

The cam is for video, the box is for beat. With Cambox you can create, record, and share video beatbox creations. Capture a sound in each of eight boxes to create your “kit”. Once you have sounds you can play them like drums. Tap them in any order to create a steady rhythm or something else entirely.

A friend showed me this, and I immediately thought of how much fun it could be with a group of teens. Unfortunately, the writing of this post didn’t coincide with me seeing any teens, so I had to make do with the things in my kitchen. (more…)

Geeks of all ages rejoice, the full version of Minecraft is out today!  Minecraft creator Notch and the folks at Mojang  are celebrating this release with gamers from around the world at MineCon in Las Vegas today and tomorrow.  MineCon’s impressive agenda includes panels about gaming and sharing with implications that extend beyond Minecraft alone.  The conference will be streaming live thanks to a partnership with IGN. Visit IGN’s Minecraft Event Hub for conference videos and more.

The full version of the game includes all kinds of exciting new features like enchantments, new items, new blocks, and new mobs.  You can check out the full list of updates over at the Minecraft Wiki.
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Title: Pic Collage
Platform: iPhone, iPod, iPad
Cost: Free

I was having trouble choosing an app to review this week. My iPhone 3 is not compatible with some of the things I was interested in trying.  I think it’s time for an upgrade.  To find some new apps to consider for the week, I looked at my Genius recommendations in the App Store.   Like iTunes, Genius recommends apps based on what you already have in your library.  You can find it under the “Featured” heading in the App store.  Pic Collage was recommended for me because I have Instagram.

Pic Collage lets you arrange and share groups of images.  The interface is simple, intuitive, and explained in this nice little graphic:

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