I get the following question all the time from library staff, “I need to stay informed about technology and all those gadgets and I don’t know this stuff.  Are there good non-techy sources that are directed to libraries that I can read on a regular basis?”

A quick aside … there might be “good non-techy sources that are directed to libraries,” but why not just read good non-techy sources (that your patrons are reading) instead of waiting for the next issue of Library Journal?

OK, so my two favorite sources for tech & gadgets are Pogue & Mossberg from … gasp … NEWSPAPERS!!!  You can read these on real paper at your local library, or online via their webpages, or via email, or iPhone App, or Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube or even podcasts (I know, the last two aren’t reading …).  What’s great about these newspapers is they have very good professional writers and they come out every day even! OK, that was another quick aside in favor of newspapers … which every librarian should be reading anyway … as a former on-the-desk Reference Librarian, that’s something I’ve always stuck too and pushed all my former circ and ref staff to do too … OK, enough with the asides already!

I am a BIG fan of David Pogue (NY Times), he has a weekly column where he reviews and explains all things gadget and tech.  He speaks plain English, is very funny and a joy to read or watch (he’s on YouTube too) even if you don’t care about what he is reviewing.  His column is usually in the Wed. or Thur. NYTimes and you can have an email sent if you set up a free account on nytimes.com (which is how I keep up).  Find his most recent column in the NYTimes Technology section here:
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/technology/index.html

And try his NYTimes tech blog here:
http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com

The other very good, plain english, gadget guy is the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg.  Not as funny as Pogue, but his three columns (he farms it out to other reporters now too) are very good with tons of great info & tips.  I got turned on to him by my very non-techy mother-in-law!  His column is also usually in the Wed. or Thur. WSJ and you can have an email sent to you too if you set up a free account.  He’s online at: http://walt.allthingsd.com/

And other than this techy blog you’re reading,  I’ve got my own digital media website with linkS to almost everything under the sun gadget and media-wise, find it here:  http://www.nmrls.org/ce/digitalmedia.htm

I suggest starting out with Pogue, maybe even look up his video reviews on YouTube or NYTimes, if you end up liking his sense of humor, you’ll be hooked and can start teaching tech classes, blogging tech, and being an insufferable tech guru!