They say we are due for Internet brownouts next year:

Beware surfers: cyberspace is filling up

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article6169488.ece

And by 2012, the "traffic jam could last all day long."

In our library, we have planned for tornado, earthquake, pandemic, and other interruptions to our services, but we haven't planned for "no more Internet." Since more and more of our information resources are through online vendors, is it time to renew my CDL and become a trucker again? Is there a future for our method of reference and information delivery if the Net slows down to a crawl? (I would rather not relive the dial-up modem days, thank you.)

Managing digital information: the issues for libraries
http://www.iwr.co.uk/information-world-review/features/2241165/managing-digital-information
This article in Information World Review gives a world viewpoint on the issues surrounding managing and preserving digital content.

Saying Yes to No - Greg Cootsona, author of the book "Saying Yes to No", posted a guest blog at CNBC that I thought would be of interest to my fellow stressed out librarians:

The Urgency of Strategic Breaks
http://www.cnbc.com/id/29636690/

from the post: "The match in front of us is urgent, but there is nothing more urgent than strategic breaks. Because when we rest, we can go deep. And we need to dig down when the match gets tough. It’s at the depths that we find creativity and innovation. When we want a new insight on the pitch we’re about to make, the speech we want to write, or managing that challenging employee, we need to move into the deeper functions of our brain. When we are constantly pushing ourselves, it’s simply impossible to do our best work."

I wish you the best strategic break ever - boy, do we all need one!

In case your library is following the swine flu news:

HealthMap is a good site - it is a global disease alert map
http://www.healthmap.org/en

It also has a Twitter account which includes alerts and other useful links to news/resources:
http://twitter.com/healthmap

If restaurants can use Twitter to tempt diners
(according to this Reuters news item: http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE53I11Z20090420 ),
why not libraries?
A quote from the story gives a warning for already over-worked library staff who are considering adding this duty to their list:

"It does take time and effort and care and feeding," said Chris Brogan, president of New Marketing Labs, a new media marketing company. "If you go silent it shows. It's like not answering the phone."

The United Nations World Digital Library has launched:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/20/AR2009042001324.html?hpid=moreheadlines

This library, located at http://www.wdl.org/en/, currently has 1180 items from 8000 b.c. to present day from the world's cultures. 

This site promises to continue growing - keep checking back to see what else has been added. 

In addition to taking part in a Web 2.0 class, I recently created an online class for public librarians covering consumer health information:

Consumer health information resource service [CHIRS] & Go Local Nebraska

http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/scripts/training/eventshow.asp?ProgID=8982

CHIRS will be 25 years old in 2010, and is a fantastic resource for the citizens of Nebraska and their loved ones. If your state is considering expanding their consumer health information services, give the McGoogan Library a call to find out how to do it right. As far as I have been able to determine, Nebraska is the only state that offers full consumer health information service to EVERY citizen in the state. (If you know of another state, please drop me a comment -th)

The Go Local Nebraska directory is part of the national project to connect each state's health services contact information to the National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus.

Librarian was among victims of New York massacre: 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/apr/10/new-york-classroom-shooting-victim-story