Technically a Librarian

Policies target Student-teacher cybertalk

2009-11-03T13:12:00.002-05:00

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/11/04/10communication_ep.h29.html?tkn=MSQFrvxJ9Qigz6ZCzzewv5s7jskhyBW98d%2BY

If this passes-what a huge impact on education!

Louisiana is trying to pass a law monitoring student/teacher communication. I don't know about you but I have my students email me papers that need to be converted, book reviews, etc. If they are doing research, I forward them article that might help. What a mess this will make! Hopefully legislators will think twice about this one.

Teach Yourself How to Be Happier | Edutopia

2009-10-27T13:24:00.000-04:00

Teach Yourself How to Be Happier Edutopia

great article!

The Big Read

2009-10-09T09:20:00.002-04:00

Our community is doing The Big Read-which is a partnership between the school district and the public library. The last Big Read we did was To Kill a Mockingbird. The school district librarians got together and chose elementary appropriate books that our high school students came over to read. We handed out bookmarks and discussed the book with anyone who wanted to listen. Books with a similiar theme were ordered for all the school

This year our book is Love Medicine. The school librarians have been excluded from any of the events. There will be no books ordered. I asked what time the author would be visiting to receive a - What business is it of mine? (Well...I was thinking....books, authors, this certainly sounds like something the library supports.)

How have we come to a pass when a community reading event is taking place and the school librarians are excluded?

Summer Reading lists

2008-05-28T09:09:00.002-04:00

There have been some great summer reading lists for teachers posted on LM_NET recently. Here is one that I thought was especially well done. I do wish they had included some YA literature as well though.

Informational

How Doctors Think-Jerome Groopman

Best American Food Writing of 2007

The Art of Aging- Sherwin Nuland

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the

Supreme Court- Jeffrey Toobin

Eat, Pray, Love-Elizabeth Gilbert

Girls of Tender Age- Mary Ann Tirone Smith

Three Cups of Tea-Greg Mortenson

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman

Goes Behind the Veil-Rodriquez and Ohlson

The Glass Castle- JeannetteWalls

The Omnivoreâ€™s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

Ghosts Among Us by James Van Praagh

The Zookeeperâ€™s Wife-Diane Ackerman

Mystery

New England White- Stephen L. Carter

Shoot Him if He Runs- Stuart Woods

T is for Trespass- Sue Grafton

Sweet Revenge- Diane Mott Davidson

The Miracle at Speedy Motors-(Series- #1 Ladies Detective Agency-Alexander McCall Smith)

Santa Fe Dead- Stuart Woods

Fearless Fourteen- Janet Evanovich

Beverly Hills Dead- Stuart Woods

The Appeal- John Grisham

I Heard That Song Before-Mary Higgins Clark

Newer Fiction

The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted-Elizabeth Berg

The Third Angel-Alice Hoffman

Off Season-Anne River Siddons

Skeletons at the Feast-Chris Bohjalian

Skylight Confessions-Alice Hoffman

What Matters Most- Luanne Rice

The Double Bind- Chris Bohjalian

Run â€“Ann Patchett

Bridge of Sighs-Richard Russo

The Almost Moon- Alice Sebold

Songs Without Words- Ann Packer

Family Tree-Barbara Delinsky

Past Perfect-Susan Isaacs

The Plague of Doves- Louise Erdrich

The Girl With No Shadow-Joanne Harris

More Great Fiction!

Change of Heart- Jodi Picoult

The Uncommon Reader- Alan Bennett

The Lady Elizabeth-Alison Weir

The Blood of Flowers-Anita Amirrezvani

Across a Hundred Mountains- Reyna Grande

Those Who Save Us- Jenna Blum

The Kommandantâ€™s Girl- Pam Jenoff

Belong to Me- Marisa de los Santos

The Gathering-Anne Enright

The Edge of Winter-Luanne Rice

Light of the Moon-Luanne Rice

The Book Thief-Zusak

The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs

Simply Perfect (and others in this series) By Mary Balogh

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan-Lisa See

World Without End- Ken Follett (sequel to Pillars of the Earth)

The Secret Between Us-B.Delinsky

The Kindness Of Strangers- Katrina Kittle

Did you miss these?

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn-Betty Smith

A Thousand Splendid Suns- Khaled Hosseini

Daughter of Fortune-Isabel Allende

The Red Tent- Anita Diamant

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan-Lisa See

The Shadow of the Wind- Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Poisonwood Bible-B. Kingsolver

Empire Falls-Richard Russo

Girl with a Pearl Earring-T. Chevalier

A Lesson Before Dying-Gaines

House of Spirits- Isabel AllendeÂ

A Thousand Acres- Jane Smiley

The Accidental Tourist-Anne Tyler

Mozartâ€™s Sister- Rita Charbonnier

Plain Truth- Jodi Picoult

The Pact- Jodi Picout

Pillars of the Earth- K. Follett

Water for Elephants-Sara Gruen

One Thousand White Women-J. Fergus

Black and Blue- Anne Quindlen

Turnitin.com and copyright

2008-04-23T10:41:00.002-04:00

"Students at McLean High School in Fairfax County, Va., and the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona filed a lawsuit in October 2006 arguing that Turnitin.com committed copyright infringement when it stored digital copies of students' essays in its database."

This case has finally been settled. The federal courts have decided that it is not against copyright to use these papers for comparison. The whole story is here.

Very interesting! Especially if you are a school who uses turnitin.com!

Copyright slider

2008-04-03T10:09:00.002-04:00

The District Dispatch recently posted an add to purchase a Copyright slider.

Here is there blurb:

"Copyright laws are complex and can be very confusing! Is a work in the public domain? Do you need permission to use it? When does copyright expire? Find these answers and more at your fingertips with this handy, compact Copyright Slider created by the Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP).

This single, sturdy product provides instant access to copyright laws and guidelines. Simply align the arrows by date of publication and determine a work’s copyright status and term. And the “Permission Needed?” box provides a quick answer to this very important question."

The cost?

OITP Copyright Slider Prices
1 slider - $5
20+ sliders - 10% discount
100+ sliders - 15% discount
200+ sliders - 20% discount

Estimated shipping costs:
1 slider - 41¢
10 sliders - $2.67
25 sliders - $7.50
50 sliders - $13.45

I emailed our BOCES SLS director and asked her to purchase us all one!

David Eggers Once Upon a School

2008-03-22T20:01:00.004-04:00

We are LIBRARIANS! Hear us ROAR!!

2008-03-09T14:25:00.003-04:00

I have been spending my day catching up on my blog reading through Google Reader. Wanderings has posted a blog about the librarian stereotype called I Have a Dream!!! that struck a resonate note with me.

On my Geocities page I have this for my description:

Librarian. It conjures up images of spectacle wearing women stamping books for all they are worth or hushing people-Harry Potter’s Ms. Pince is a good example or Marion from the Music Man.

In this new age of computers this image of librarians is false. Being a librarian means collaborating with teachers to help meet both information literacy & technology goals. It involves training your teachers and students to embrace new technologies as well as new literature. It is a multifaceted job where every day is different.

No matter how many different titles we are saddled with-School Library Media Specialists, Teacher-Librarians, Information Resources Specialist, the simple truth is that we are librarians.

Our individual goals are varied but our basic mission statement remains the same: “To foster a positive environment that encourages inquiry and discovery through the use of organized accessible resources. The LMC program teaches students to be independent lifelong learners who are capable of information retrieval and who value libraries and learning. The LMC provides curriculum support, research guidance, and enrichment through literature appreciation, and other learning experiences to students, faculty, and staff.”

Sound the trumpets!

Still catching up on my blog reading and came upon this post at Annoyed Librarian with a description of the Best Careers of 2008 from the US News & World Report list:

"You may have heard by now that Librarian made the U.S. News list of "Best Careers 2008." The summary of Librarian begins where you would expect it to: "Forget about that image of librarian as a mousy bookworm." Ahh, yes, the mousy bookworm. Where are all the mousy bookworms of yore? They might be less annoying than the "high-tech information sleuths" we all must be who "may also go on shopping sprees" and "put on performances, like children's puppet shows." Ugh. The main attraction, though, is that "on top of it all, librarians' work hours are reasonable." That's why I'm a librarian. They say the national median pay is $51,400. I'm always on the lookout for another career, so I took a look through the list."

Again, the stereotype.

Library Thing Local

2008-03-06T11:34:00.000-05:00

LibraryThing Local

Become a LibraryThing member to do more with LibraryThing Local:
Add your favorite bookstores and libraries
Keep track of interesting events
Connecting with friends, and more.

Free Oprah book download

2008-02-14T10:20:00.001-05:00

The download version of Suze Ormond's book *Women and Money*http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/200802/tows_past_20080213.jhtmlDownload your free copy of Suze Orman's book in English before 8/7c theevening of February 14.It's about 300 pages.This offer was made on Oprah's show on 2/12/08

Great post on Course I wish I had in Library school

2008-02-07T08:14:00.000-05:00

If you need a great laugh today, read this post by the Annoyed Librarian. The comments are great as well! Some of these course will even make the "hard-core" librarians chuckle!

LIS 501: Library Politics
LIS 502: Appearance and Deception
LIS 503: Doing the Work
LIS 504: Library Organization

From the comments:
LIS ABC123: Stirring the Pot
LIS 2112 Advanced Self-Promotion: Marketing "You", the Brand.
"Library Meetings,"
LIS 623: Abnormal psychology
LIS 1000 How Not To Deal with Perverts@ Your Library
LIS 583b Bandwagoning
L-ChiLib 101, how to be the Children's Librarian
LIS 5050: The Gentle Art of Negotiating
LIS599 Special Topics: Suburban Librarianship for Urban Librarians
LIS 509 Library Obsolescence
LIS 6666 - Defense against the Dark Arts - Cataloging and Technical Services
LIS 560: Library Productivity & Patrons
LIS 001 "Introduction to Actual Librarianship: Practice and Theory"
LIS 5233 Porn and You
LIS 4552 Managerial Support
LIS 4812 They Pay Your Salary
LIS 2546: My Cats Are My Children
LIS 666 - Subordinates Who Sabotage
LIS 911 - Coping with Committees
LIS 517: Strategies for Low Income Areas
LIS 516: Self Defence Techniques
LIB 609: Employee Relations-Post Menopausal
LIS800 Librarian Shabby Chic
LIS 666 How to become invisible
LIS 401/WHN 101: Theory and Practice of Whining "I'm a Librarian, so I whine, whine ergo sum"
LIS D0L3: How to Marry/Partner Well
LIS 505: How to Schmooze(Second semester to Library Politics)
LIS L1011: Rural Conservative Librarianship for the Urban Librarian.
LIS L1012: Urban Liberal Librarianship for the Real Librarian.
Dealing with Your Board
LIS 522: You're Here for Us!
LIS 434: Administrative Flattery
LIS 501: Creative Financing
LIS 561: Putting on Blinders
LS901/BA401- Identify and Acquire Essential Funding.
LIS 2713 Communicating with Trustees
LIS 2714 Long-Range Plan Communication: Persuading Administration to Share the Plan with the Staffmembers who Are Supposed to Be Implementing It
LIS 2715 Annual Report Communication: Persuading Administration to Share the Report with the Community that It Is Supposed to Be Serving
LIS 404: Information Technology for Librarians
LIS2001: Seminar on National Leadership: Administration of Professional Organizations
LIS 556: How to avoid land mines
LIS PU123: Identify that smell.
LIB 666: Surviving in the presence of Evil

You will have to read the descriptions to get what the "course" is about. A great laugh for anyone involved with libraries.

Book that make you dumb

2008-01-27T15:15:00.000-05:00

If you are having trouble viewing this go here.

This is a visual image of SAT scores - based on a Facebook analysis (by Virgil Griffith via Tyler Cowen)

2008 direction

2008-01-25T19:35:00.000-05:00

As a New Year's resolution for professional development I am going to try to keep up a little better with my blog. There are many fantastic new "things" out there as well as great "old" things to brush up on.

Videos to watch such as this:

curiosity Video:a short film by film-maker Nic Askew on the nature of curiosity. Starring the ever-curious Seth Godin. http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid980097284/bctid1385253108

I can't wait to see where the gaming in education programs will lead. There are already libraries having game night. {I have a teacher with a PS2 hidden in his room...}

I worked today on my presentation for SLMS 2008 entitled Books for Boys. I am creating a wiki to go with it. It is easier than printing off all the handouts though I will print out the booklist that I am creating. There are a lot of good booklists that I am just linking in. This will be my third wiki. I created one for last year's presentation too. I love pbwiki.

The Machine is Us/ing Us (Final Version)

2008-01-09T17:31:00.001-05:00

The Blogga Song

2008-01-09T17:25:00.002-05:00

http://www.laughinglibrarian.com/bd_stopblogga.htm

Pay Attention

2008-01-09T17:25:00.001-05:00

Term Blogging

2007-12-07T09:16:00.000-05:00

David Warlick published a post on the Quiet Revolution where he discusses a colleague who was speaking to a room of 19-20 year olds and when blogging was mentioned, no one raised their hand. Is blogging becoming an obsolete term?

If the same person has asked if those students wrote on Facebook or MySpace the response would've been different. They don't consider that blogging. Many of these same students probably keep a journal at Open Diary of LiveJournal, do they consider that blogging?

As vocabulary grows by leaps and bounds, I would suggest subscribing to a reader {like Bloglines or Google Reader} and adding some RSS feeds to see what the most current influences in technology and your occupation will come from next.

Blog Readability

2007-11-19T14:41:00.000-05:00

A great link from Doug Johnson! This website judges your blog's readability http://www.criticsrant.com/bb/reading_level.aspx

Thanks for the mention Rob! {Even though you called me Julie instead of June.}

wikipedia vision

2007-11-11T18:39:00.000-05:00

If you would like to see who is editing the Wikipedia and where they are located, check out WikipediaVision It will give you a map of the world, powered by Google (no surprise!). It is amazing!

Information R/evolution

2007-11-11T16:05:00.001-05:00

Interesting take on information.

What an expensive database offers for free

2007-11-08T08:49:00.000-05:00

The Resource shelf just published a list of free resources from the databases people subscribe to.

http://www.resourceshelf.com/2007/11/05/resources-of-the-week-free-stuff-from-pricey-database-vendors/

Some of these resources include:

EBSCO

Free Databases

LISTA

EBSCO Publishing is proud to provide the Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) database as a free resource to anyone interested in libraries and information management. This world-class bibliographic database provides coverage on subjects such as librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more. Delivered via the EBSCOhost platform, LISTA indexes nearly 600 periodicals plus books, research reports, and proceedings. With coverage dating back to the mid-1960s, it is the oldest continuously produced database covering the field of information science.

As well as many others.

Bluto Blutarsky - Animal House

2007-11-07T11:40:00.001-05:00

Did you know that some of the great movie speeches are available on YouTube?

Librarian humor

2007-11-07T09:51:00.000-05:00

Okay-we all need a good laugh.

Check out this site on OPAC errors and the messages that SHOULD be used.

http://warriorlibrarian.com/ROFL/opac.html

Websites to find "lost" websites

2007-11-01T08:15:00.000-04:00

We have all gone back to a favorite website to find it "missing". Some people routinely use the Wayback machine to find "lost" websites but sometimes you can't find it using this site. What do you do then?

The Search Engine Showdown has made a list of different websites to use to find your lost page!

http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/others/archive.shtml

AASL as Library 1.0

2007-10-29T11:43:00.000-04:00

I was catching up on Joyce Valenza's blog from the AASL conference where she was saying how disappointed it was that there wasn't any evidence of 2.0 technology being used at the conference. As I have been pondering this all morning, I had a idea.

Couldn't they put up all the sites/links/presentation mentioned as a set of bookmarks on del.icio.us? Then everyone would have access to the resources.

Why Can't Johnny read?

2007-10-25T09:19:00.001-04:00

This is always a great topic. Usually blame is put firmly on the school's shoulders but Walter Dean Myers spoke up yesterday in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

"I would say there is a crisis," said children's book author Walter Dean Myers. "Too many parents have walked away from this idea . . . that education is a family concept, is a community concept, is not simply something that schools do."

It should be the community. If students aren't read to at home and encouraged to read, the blame shouldn't be put on the schools. Parents should be held accountable too. Myers is primarily speaking about boys' reading habits and is giving a lecture called "Books & Boys -- Making It Work!" at the University of Washington this week.

It is still a great article to check out!

Reflection and lack of quiet time

2007-10-22T10:41:00.000-04:00

If any of you read Ma Bell's Blog about Librarianship and Technology

You should read her current entry:
http://drmabell.blogspot.com/2007/10/contemplating-contemplation.html

It questions our own practices of reflection and quiet thinking. After reading this, I asked myself ..when do I reflect? When I arrived at work, I had 105 emails in Yahoo!, 10 school emails, and over 100 updates in my Google Reader... I feel as if I am reading all the time. It is all good stuff and helpful for my own professional development. I listen to an audiobook in my car, when I walk I have my Mp3 player, etc.

When am I reflecting? When are we able to reflect at school? Maybe more of this time needs to be built in...along with sustained silent reading...hmm

Great food for thought!

Presenting

2007-10-05T17:50:00.001-04:00

How many of us have sat through a presentation to watch the presenter read off the slides? David Warlick had a great post a month ago about how to set up a presentation (or a webpage). He called it writing to communicate.

I also had a teacher approach me about a book called Make It Stick that deals with the same topic.

There are many great articles out on the web and in professional journals about presenting. Maybe people should brush up every time they present to be sure they are using common practices or try something new!

Back in the Saddle

2007-10-05T17:36:00.000-04:00

After a long break for summer vacation, I am blogging again. I have been doing my personal blogging at OpenDiary but have been neglecting my professional blogging. I have sent in my proposal to SLMS-I am going to do Books for Boys.

I love technology. Most of the blogs I subscribe to are technology based. When I present though I am leaning more toward literature. I want my students and staff using the latest tech to promote learning but I still worry about student literacy-especially with the amount of reading on they web. I try to promote literacy of all types. Since my teachers listen and watch all my techno plans..and the emails I send from workshops and conferences I attend...I feel that I need to research and promote books for my students. If I agree to present on a literature based subject, I have to read up on it and find what people are talking about.

I am getting ready to present at the Books Abound! conference in Binghamton November 15th. I chose to facilitate the discussion on Speak and Inexcusable. I will provide my teen issues booklist (which needs to be added to) and hope that the people in my group are loquacious.

Library drops Dewey!

2007-05-31T08:38:00.000-04:00

The Gilbert library in Arizona is opening a new library and ditching Dewey. Here is the link for the article:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0530nodewey0530.html

The are going to shelve by topic...Move over Barnes & Nobles!

2007-05-17T08:42:00.000-04:00

http://acrlblog.org/2007/05/14/formula-for-academic-library-success/

There was a great article on the Association of College and Research Libraries blog today discussing the formula for academic success.

"Given what Law shared about his research results, there may be cause for optimism. It seems that students may be more savvy about using library research databases than we suspected. They also tend to depend on search engines less heavily for serious research than we may think, and more frequently as a complement to library databases. Yes, students may typically begin in a search engine, but that’s how they acquire background or introductory information. But they then seek out the library’s databases for more detailed information or scholarly content on their topic. "

Posted by StevenB on May 14th, 2007 under Libraries and Learning, Research Issues, Public Services.

There is an archived copy of the webcast available here http://home.learningtimes.net/library?go=1561563 if you are interested in listening to the presentation that verifies this theory.

I think that much of what was dealt with here has an impact on school libraries as well. We spend quite a bit of time on database instruction. I was gratifying to know that much of what they learned could have a basis in their school libraries.

SLMS 2007 Luncheon with Tim Green

2007-05-12T18:01:00.000-04:00

Tim Green has recently written a new YA book called Football Genius. He was a wonderful speaker and a great way to end the conference.

I went back and spoke to my principal about getting Tim while he is doing his book tour. I emailed Tim but am still waiting for him to get back with prices and dates.

Jane and I are hoping to split him between East & West.

Odds & Ends:

The Knickerbocker Award banquet was very nice. The sound system wasn't hooked up correctly or something making it very hard to hear the award recipients. Jerry Pickney was a great speaker and very charming. He didnt' stay for the dancing afterwards.

I danced from 9-12 (after I ran upstairs to lose my jacket and do the inhalers that I brought-though I forgot my rescue inhaler). It was a lot of fun though part way through I had to remember not to sing at the top of my voice since I had to present on Sat!

Thank you to all the great people I met and for those of you who attended my presentation! I am going to send my information into Bernie. I have also made it available on a wiki if anyone is interested! http://teenreaders.pbwiki.com/ if you want to post a comment the password is library.

SLMS 2007-SOS for Information Literacy-Dr. Small, Session 5

2007-05-12T17:46:00.000-04:00

I presented during Session 4.

http://www.sosinformationliteracy.org

SOS for Information literacy is a free K-16 multimedia database. It contains:

Lesson plans
Quick teaching ideas
Online lessons
Videos

It encourages collaboration.

S. Situation (grade level, curriculum area)

O. Outcome (information skills)

S. Strategies (teaching, motivation, techniques)

There is no Ask A service because you can contact the author of the lesson directly.

You don't have to sign in to use this but if you would like to save your lessons after you find them you have to create an account.

You can create teaching units by putting together different lesson and saving them to "your space."

Information literacy and the Information Power standards are included.

The next phase of this project will contain a new search engine created by Liz Liddy.

The Educators Spotlight Digest in part of this site.

There are tutorials as well as online help.

If you would like to submit a lesson to be included there are templates on the site. Each lesson is evaluated by two teachers.

Dr. Small is looking for volunteers to evaluate lessons, people to write lessons to be included in the database, people to write articles for Educator's Digest, and video submissions.

With the Builder feature, you can create Webquests. When you begin a webquest it automatically creates a URL so you can link to it.

If you have any questions, contact Dr. Small at Syracuse University.

SLMS 2007-Ethics-Session 3

2007-05-12T17:25:00.000-04:00

I went to Information Ethics presented by Ed Nizalowski.

His concept was good-putting a section of information literacy into a Participation in Goverment class. His project took 5 days to complete but was taught in isolation with the teacher leaving the room during it. On a positive note, he did get to evaluate his part.

He created a webquest to go with it but he didn't show it to us or share a link for it.

Unfortunately his presentation was poor (due to many things). This caused much of the idea to be lost. We received one handout on the project. The idea was a good one though.

SLMS 2007-Advocacy by Jane Fenn, Session 2

2007-05-12T17:10:00.000-04:00

Okay-some of you may be asking yourselves-how could I have gone to both session 2 presentations? I left early after I copied down Jacquie's information (took the handouts) and heard it's all online, then snuck over to Jane Fenn's.

Great handouts were provided. She will be sending these in to be posted on the website that Bernie Tomasso said was being created to house them.

Ideas for Advocacy

Breakfast and bulbs

When the AV position was cut at Corning West High School, Jane invited her teachers to bring down their overhead projectors to clean them and teach them to change the bulb. They had breakfast, got a can of air and a new light bulb.

Go to high profile events (so the parents & students see you)

concerts, plays
sporting events
be a club advisor
go to school events and award programs

Call attention to the extra jobs you do

Write up professional/library events and send them to the district office to be included in the district/building/parent newsletters.

Ask yourself what you can volunteer for-be a part of the school community.

Write grants-even the ones for $100 that come from the Teacher Center

Write up an annual report to hand in at the end of the year. You can include:

Database usage statistics
Library usage statistics
Special programs
Collaborative projects
Professional accomplishments

Write for professional journals-not only for library ones but for ones the teachers/administrators subscribe to. She mentioned that we provide services for all and our reports/articles should reflect this.

There's a powerpoint on plagiarism on the state website.

Create a library brochure for your home teachers so they know what services the library has for them and their students.

Be the building expert on something-copyright, plagiarism, international books, etc.

Two books mentioned:

Building Influence in Your Library

Powertools Recharged

Jane also mentioned that Mansfield University offers a 1 credit online course for principals on School libraries. http://libweb.mansfield.edu/lapis/principals.asp

Did You Know; Shift Happens - Globalization; Information Age

2007-05-12T17:09:00.001-04:00

SLMS 2007-J. Henry Was Columbus Wrong? Session 2

2007-05-12T17:01:00.000-04:00

Jacquie Henry has a blog called Wanderings

She shared with us A Song for Students: Not on the Test by Tom Chapin

Her notes and presentation are available here! http://nlcommunities.com/communities/wanderings/articles/127368.aspx

I am checking out the "Did you Know" video by Karl Fisch at Youtube! (I added it to my blog if you would like to view it.)

Please add her blog to your reader. She has a lot of fantastic ideas that are definitely work reading about. A great example of Library 2.0 all around!

SLMS 2007 Luncheon with Alice Yucht

2007-05-12T16:35:00.000-04:00

You would think that after sitting through session 1-Web Feeds I would've had enough but Alice Yucht delivers fresh materials and ideas with each presentation. Her luncheon presentation was entitled: The New 3 Rs, Digital Literacy Skills for the 21st Century

There has been a evolution of information:

The information superhighway

User driven
Interactive
Collaborative

2. Information Ocean

Can't control the ebb and flow of information
Kids need instruction to stay afloat

Teenagers now referred to as screenagers. They are digital natives. They use their thumbs (from texting) the way we use our pointer fingers.

Pew Internet-Teens, Privacy, and Online Social Networks

Alice referred to students by their millennial characteristics. I found an interesting PPT on how it effects them as students.

She commmented that we are teaching digital kids analog skills. We are in 1950s buildings using 1990s technology with a 1980s curriculum.

We should be looking at contextual learning http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

You can also visit Alice's site to look at information skills.

Pam Berger-Learning in the Web 2.0 world lists survival skills

The 3 rs!

Reasoning

Graphic literacy
Context
Focus

2. Reconnoitering

Navigation
Skepticism

3. Responsibility

Ethical Behavior

What is Reasoning?

Asking
Arranging
Assessing

What is Reconnoitering?

choosing the best path
how/when/where
balancing choices
building bridges
using the best practices
Using thinking skill to navigate

What is Responsibility?

This is the most important skill.
Fair use of information
giving credit
having a conscious
consequences for actions

David Warlick (Of the 2cents blog) stated "No generation in history has ever been so thoroughly prepared for the industrial age.)

Alice closed with this quote from Plato:
"The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future life."

Very eye opening!

SLMS 2007 Web Feeds 101-Alice Yucht

2007-05-12T14:04:00.000-04:00

If you ever get a chance to go to a workshop presented by Alice, take it! She is a great speaker-very down to earth, humourous and knowledgable. Her SLSM presentation was entitled:
"How blog reading can make you look brilliant"

She mentioned many blogs in her presentation including Shiny Shiny, Indexed and Lifehacker.

She stated that our role is "chief information officer". (Which I agree with!)

Some sites she mentioned:
AAA Fuel Cost Calculator
Jot-it (where you can leave yourself an electronic note)

Even a texting translator!

She proceeded to define what a blog is: "A website with entries in reverse chronological order with catagories."

There are 3 different kinds of blogs:

Personal/ point of view (covering events and impressions)
Practical/purposeful (new resources/links)
Philosophical/polemical (exploration/big ideas)

You can use blogs to further your professional development. They provide:

Instant information
Hot topic in the profession
Lifelong learners
Conversation/collaboration among professionals

She mentioned:

a wiki on Children's book series

Something that allows you to send messages back and forth called Twitter

California Dreamin' (Rob Darrow's blog)

An excellent resource on Fair Use: Tales from the Public Domain

Current Issues in Education

Periodic Table of Visualization

RSS on any page will allow you to subscribe to the blogs you are interested in. These subscriptions are put into a reader such as Yahoo! or Google Reader

RSS gathers in the information, puts it into a virtual file cabinet, and allows you to share the resources you have found.

RSS tutorials:

RSS in plain English http://blip.tv/file/205570

Other websites mentioned:

Flickr (World's largest location for photographs)

Del.icio.us (a social bookmarking site)

Ted talks (audiocasting of a design conference done by the top people in various fields)

Directory of open access journals http://www.doaj.org/

Helpguide

How to Save the World

Cancer Survivor's Handbook

America's favorite architecture

How to make things with a single sheet of paper http://www.instructables.com/

Library of Congress blog

She also said that you can set up webfeeds in Ebsco and Proquest to send updated information on subject searches. (I will need to check this out!)

Alice has a wiki and a blog for any who are interested!

Great tips for patrons to promote libraries

2007-05-10T09:03:00.000-04:00

I came across a great list of tips from Superpatron's blog. Not only could patrons use it but librarians too! He also created a video that he presents at libraries that is listed on his site.

People who love their libraries want them to be better. Here's what you can do.

Ten ways for superpatrons to build better libraries:

1. Blog about your library
Write about your experiences at the library on your blog. Note who you talked to, what you noticed while you were there or while you were online, and how things worked. You have a set of eyes that the people who work at the library don't have, and by giving feedback in public you have some way to draw attention to what is working and why your library is valuable to you and to your community.

2. Request the books you want to read
Libraries have book acquisition budgets, and people whose entire job it is to put books on the shelf that get circulated. There's no way that they will know every last title that should be on the shelves, especially (in my experience) the non-fiction titles that have no marketing budgets to speak of. Let the acquisitions staff work for you, and let them know what you want to see and what you will check out and recommend to your friends if you like it.

3. Borrow by inter-library loan the books that the library doesn't have
A well kept secret at many libraries is an interlibrary loan system that speeds books from all over the area or all over the country to you if your library doesn't have the book in stock. These systems have gotten better over time, moving from paper and telex based systems to in some case all-automated systems that are relatively economical for libraries to run. Assume, by default, that if there's a book that you want to read, your library can get it for you.

4. Browse the library catalog with your kids
Kids gravitate to libraries for all sorts of reasons, and if you have a kid who likes to read books they have a curiousity that is way more interesting and able to make leaps and bounds from one idea to another than yours. Sit down with the online catalog with your kids and browse from topic to topic and subject to subject and see what else the library has that they might be interested in.

5. Connect your library catalog to LibraryThing
LibraryThing is an amazing social catalog which lets you keep collections of books (either yours or your favorites from the library), write and read reviews, rate books and link to other people with similar interests. It is way, way, way better than any commercial online catalog that libraries buy. You can take advantage of all of the energy and effort in LibraryThing by adding a very small amount of configuration to it which lets you look up any book in that system in your home library's catalog and link directly through to its holdings for it.

6. Connect your library catalog to Amazon
Jon Udell in 2002 wrote a short but powerful bookmarklet that lets you link directly from an Amazon book information and buying page to your local library, showing book holdings and availability. Make it a routine habit to look and see if your local library and your local interlibrary loan system already have a book that you're about to buy - you can save money, get better service, and reduce clutter on your shelves all at once.

7. Remix the library catalog into your own applications
Library catalogs hold huge amounts of data about your library's books, but they tend to be creaky old dinosaurs of code. Use your programming skills to pull data off hard to use library screens and rewrite what you find into simple pages that highlight the information you are looking for. Take a page full of links to the new books on the system, pull out link and ISBN information with an RSS feed or Beautiful Soup, mix in the Amazon data for book covers, and create a "Wall of Books" view of your library's new book shelf.

8. Add a librarian to your instant message or Twitter buddy list
Libraries and librarians are in the business of answering reference questions. Local public libraries know a lot about the town they serve, and special libraries are centers of information about the topics they cover and hold. All these helpful people are just an instant message or Twitter away from answering the question you have. At the very least, they have Google on their side (and they are good at Google); even better, you get people who know not just the online resources but the books and people who can get you closer to your answer.

9. Put a library reference desk in your cell phone speed dial
Away from a computer and still need to have a reference question answered? Libraries have reference desks available by telephone, and you can call these from wherever you are to help you track something down or look up something you need. Often libraries will let you reserve books online as well, so if you can get to a phone, you can get your book. Bonus points if you have a library with a web site that's actually navigable and useful by cell phone, so that you can use it as a wayfinding tool in the stacks (havent' seen one of those yet)

10. If you don't have time to browse the stacks, reserve online.
I never get a chance to walk through my library any more picking books off the stacks - two kids, a busy job, and never enough time to browse gets in the way. If I'm in the library I'm either reading magazines or playing with legos with the kids. Fortunately, my library has a great online reserve system, which lets me place holds on books and pick them out at the front counter in the few minutes I have between catching the bus.

SLMS 2007 Opening session-Toni Buzzeo

2007-05-09T09:02:00.000-04:00

The 2007 session of SLMS in NY opening speaker was Toni Buzzeo. Her construct was entitled "Collaborating from the Center of your School Universe: Beyond the Basics to Advocacy". She is very passionate about collaboration. She talked about how information is either causing the collapse of schools or accelerating the growth of learning. She commented that positive growth encourages expansion.

Toni defines collaboration as "The process by which we learn/design, team teach, & team evaluate." Students need to know, understand, and be able to "do" whatever learning task is set. She mention Information Power I which was published in 1988 and was the beginning of the concept of collaboration. Information Power II stated that collaborative energy powers the library media program.

To follow her universe construct, she mentioned that productive collision courses (running into a teacher in the hall) provide an exchange of ideas. (Like when stars collide, energy in produced.) Collaboration is a source of energy and that it provides a juncture of standards that meet with student needs.

5 studies that support collaboration:

1999 Alaska Study-higher test scores
2000 Colorado study-21% higher scores with collaboration
2000 Pennsylvania study-varied collection promotes information literacy
2001 Oregon study-highest reading scores twice as likely with collaboration
2003 Michigan study-with flexible scheduling, collaboration is 4 times as likely
2007 New York study-currently underway

(She did a great job refocusing the group and had total audience buy in)

Teachers each have individual strengths and differences you have to tap in on. Toni's 3 types of teachers:

Oh Yeahs! (the risk takers)
Yeah, buts... (watching to be convinced)
No Way (but if the principal sets a goal...)

(She used statistics from the Nations report card to great effect.)

Librarians need to use the weaknesses of their school found on their state testing data to open the door to collaboration. The key is student achievement. You can obtain your school's testing data from Data Mentor. (usually available through BOCES).

Steps:
Identify unit of study
Use data
Identify skills
constructed response
subskills
LMS documents how data has been improved.

Students have to learn something 24 times to reach 80% competency.

(Toni mentioned the Marzano book Classroom Instruction that Works)

Toni's advice:

On going partnership among teacher/librarian
Skills taught must be useful and applicable
teacher/librarian teams must monitor progress through skills
teacher/librarian team must document student achievement

She also mentioned the flyer available for download through http://www.ala.org about Your school media program and NCLB that is provided for principals.

Joining the conversation

2007-05-03T10:29:00.000-04:00

I read a great post today by Steven Bell on how we don't tend to disagree in the blogosphere. It really made me think and reread the blogs I usually check in on daily. It is mostly true that instead of dissent or differences of opinion there are many comments that are just "yes, I agree" or what a great post. One of Steven's arguments states that if we want to be considered as library science professionals we would do well to debate both sides of every controversy.

Another great blog to check out is Monsterlibrarian This is a site that reviews the horror genre. It's updated often.

New and upcoming

2007-04-24T14:28:00.000-04:00

The newest site I've found this week is http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com If you have wondered about what kids addiction is with social networking sites-this is for you! This site is dedicated to Teacher Librarians-you can invite a friend, post images or videos-the site is great. This one was started by Joyce Valenza.

Another one is Chris Harris's Library 2.0 http://library20.ning.com/ If you join both it links them together. Chris's network is for librarians interested in what a library can offer to it's patrons that involved today's technology.

They are both great websites. You can browse or lurk for free. If you wonder what the buzz is, check them out!

I am still getting ready for SLMS 2007. I am very bummed that my program is opposite Chris's since I like to attend his presentations. Maybe I can talk him into podcasting or posting a video at YouTube!

Interesting new tool

2007-04-19T13:00:00.000-04:00

There is a new mapping tool that combines sickness outbreaks with Google maps. If you are wondering who in your area has the sniffles or what is going around. Check this out:

http://whoissick.org/sickness/

New networking website

2007-04-18T13:17:00.000-04:00

For those of you who have been wondering about the addiction of social networking, this site is for you:

http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com

Here's the blurb for the website-it was started by Joyce Valenza.

"For those of us who connect, teach, share, and lead in new information landscapes. Come play in this exciting learning sandbox! Pose questions in the forum. Add your images!"

You can post video and collaborate with your peers. Come and satisfy your curiosity!

Ten Things a Blogging Librarian Must Do-by Mike

2007-04-02T13:42:00.000-04:00

Ten Things a Blogging Librarian Must Do (an exercise in common sense)

Cite your sources. Link to them. It's what this Web and blog thing is all about.

Post often but have something to say. I'd rather read one or two super good posts than multiple posts that someone puts up because they feel they have to. I've done that here. I used to post everyday, but now I focus on what's really interesting me and what I can comment on.
However: make the commitment though to follow through. It pains me to see a new blog go up, get listed here and there and then never hear from it again. Blogging is an investment of time and energy, commit.

Post about what you're passionate about and don't be afraid to say what you think!

And share yourself. I love learning about folks and how they see the world. Their POV may help me understand or change mine. It also adds to the community that is the blogosphere and more so the Internet. We are people... be yourself!

Never miss an opportunity to show your administration how well an external library blog is working. Did you get a nice email from someone who found your blog helpful? Forward it to all involved. It's feedback of the best kind.

If you are doing a personal blog, don't do it on your library's dime. Breaks? Lunch? Sure! In the speaking I've done about blogging I've had numerous library admin types ask what to do about a blogger on their staff. If it's a library-related blog, discuss what you might do as part of professional development with your supervisor.

Blog unto others as you'd have them blog unto you. In other words, play nice. I don't want to read flames. I do want to read a differing opinion from someone who thought out their points on whatever the topic of the day is.

Read other blogs for inspiration and AHHA moments. Chime in. CITE!

Learn all there is to know about your blog app and make use of its features. These are good skills to have.

Have FUN!

(well, that was 11! :) )
Posted by Michael on June 9, 2004 11:15 AM

The library and the scrotum

2007-03-05T11:45:00.000-05:00

I have been following the controversy over The Higher Power of Lucky (the Newbery Award winner). This book has been banned from libraries because of the use of the word scrotum. Not even a human scrotum but a dog scrotum. One blogger wrote "It’s right there, on page one. Our heroine overhears a dramatic story about a man whose dog was bit on the scrotum by a rattlesnake. "

Why is this such an issue? It is a dog.....maybe the author could've used a different word-privates-but would that have solved the problem.

I bet you could get a huge influx of teens to read this book if the controversy continues...

HBO On Demand Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2007-01-26T20:14:00.001-05:00

Warning: contains spoilers.

ALA Washington office now in Second Life

2007-01-11T11:31:00.000-05:00

Published by Lorelei January 9th, 2007 in Cybrary City
Tags: ala, cybrary city.

We are excited to announce the opening of the virtual ALA Washington Office in Second Life. The Washington Office is located on Cybrary City next to several other libraries. Cybrary City is one of several islands that librarians are using in SL to provide services to the users of this community. To visit our virtual office, simply click on the SLURL (Second Life URL): SLurl.

At present, you can find the following items in the virtual office:

An introduction to the Washington Office
Information on upcoming activities at Midwinter and National Library Legislation Day.
An interactive computer that will point users to ALA Washington online resources, including the District Dispatch podcast and blog.
A slideshow of pictures of our office and staff.
The Washington Office was established in 1945 as a conduit between ALA members and federal legislators on Capitol Hill and now consists of the Office of Government Relations (OGR) and the Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP). For more information on the Washington Office, please visit http://www.alawash.org

In Second Life, you can get more information from Galen Noltenius. Please feel free to stop by the virtual office on January 10, from 4-5 EST (1-2 pm SLT). He will be happy to answer any questions you have about the Washington Office and/or Second Life. The ALA Washington Office and ALA as a whole are determining what services our members would like us to provide in this on-line environment. What would you like to see from us in SL? Please join Galen in-world or IM him with any suggestions.

Sneak peek at Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2007-01-11T10:17:00.001-05:00


From HPANA.com

New Tools

2007-01-10T11:59:00.000-05:00

I have created a book blog for my high school students and a wiki for my Teacher book club. I haven't gotten any hits on the book blog but my teachers are enjoying the wiki. Do you have any online tools to suggest? I am using http://www.pbwiki.com for the wiki and I think I'll use http://www.surveymonkey.com for their evaluation.

Second Life Tip Sheet

2006-11-30T08:30:00.000-05:00

Business Week posted a Second Life tip sheet on November 27th. Here is what they suggested:

NOVEMBER 27, 2006

RELATED ITEMSChart: Second Life Stats Graphic: Real World Brands In Second Life Graphic: The Most Popular Developers To Help Design And Execute Your Company's Virtual World Strategy Slide Show: Life Before (or After) Second LifeINSIDE INNOVATION -- IN SIDE

Second Life Tip Sheet Steps to take and mistakes to avoid

1. Design your avatar. The first place to start -- even just to research firsthand what other corporations are doing -- is to sign up for a free Second Life account and create your avatar, or online alter-ego. If you want to buy property for your virtual store, you need to sign up for a $9.95-a-month premium account through PayPal (EBAY ).

2. Buy some land. Fees range from $5 for 512 square meters of a region to large islands priced at $5,000 for 262,144 square meters (about 64 acres) and $780 in monthly maintenance fees. Most real-world companies have been spending $1,250 for an island (about 16 acres).

3. Shop around for a developer. In Linden Lab's Developer Directory, you can find the right company to build your virtual office, get celebrities to perform at your launch event, and keep generating buzz with regular programs. Check out developers' Web-based portfolios and schedule an in-world tour of their past projects.

4. Define your brand experience. Some companies make the mistake of turning to virtual worlds for incremental revenue. Even though there is real money moving through Second Life, it does not yet produce a meaningful revenue stream for companies. Instead, focus on defining the core aspects of your brand and translating your products into virtual ones.

5. Understand the local culture. Take this as seriously as taking your company to a new country or continent. For example, do Second Life residents really wear and, more important, buy simple T-shirts and jeans? Many have flashy, costume-like clothes. Consider what styles and types of products would appeal in Second Life.

6. Define your virtual strategy. Launch your presence with a high-profile event and consider cross-promoting with other companies. Sony BMG launched in Second Life with a Ben Folds Five concert in the Aloft virtual hotel developed by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (HOT ). Also consider incentives. American Apparel offers a 15% discount to Second Life residents who visit online and later shop in a physical boutique.

7. Measure real-world results at regular intervals. Think of Second Life as a complement to, not a replacement for, a standard Web site or real-world presence. Even though only about 40 avatars attended a press conference with Mark Warner, former tech entrepreneur and Democratic Governor of Virginia, it was covered more widely by bloggers and the mainstream media than just another flesh-and-blood town hall meeting.

8. Troubleshoot tech and design issues. More than 60 to 90 visitors to a virtual event cause the server to slow down. The American Cancer Society had to turn away potential donors. Next year, it plans to host events in multiple locations to accommodate more Second Life residents. And boxy, modern buildings and objects tend to work best in Second Life (think of Telus' cube-like store or Toyota's Scion). Avoid more ornate designs.

9. Keep an eye on other Web worlds. While Second Life is getting popular, it could be even more innovative to explore alternative marketing platforms. Active Worlds' offers stand-alone immersive corporate worlds, which clients like Wells Fargo opted for instead of Second Life. There.com helped MTV (VIA ) develop an independent virtual Laguna Beach. Habbo, an off-shoot of the pioneering virtual meeting place Habbo Hotel, is an online universe for teens. Cyworld is a growing Korean site that marries MySpace to Second Life."

Great advice!

I don't know how school libraries will fit into this profit model. If anyone has any ideas on it, please feel free to comment!

Welcome to Cybrary City; Setting Up Library Areas

2006-11-30T08:23:00.000-05:00

A new blog at infoisland.org has recently posted this announcement about how to set up a library in Cybrary City on Second Life:

"The mayor of Cybrary City, Paul Miller of Talis, will officially welcome Cybrary City residents and other interested librarians on Wed, December 6 at 2:30 pm sl time, 4:30 central, and 5:30 Eastern to welcome everyone. The welcome will be held on the plaza in front of the new conference center. After the welcome, we will briefly discuss guidelines for your areas and divide you into groups who will work with BlueWings Hayek and Eiseldora on how to do things to set up your places the way you would like. I know there is no time that is good for everyone. We will schedule another time soon after that if you cannot make this one. I know many have questions about guidelines and how to set up so I wanted to go ahead and get this scheduled. "

So if you are interested in setting up a library, please log in on Dec 6th.

Australian Libraries join Second Life

2006-11-26T12:58:00.000-05:00

"I’m gobsmacked! I just popped into Cybrary City in Second Life for a visit before bed, and have come out with a building for all Australian Libraries to share. Ooops.

Cybrary City is an island sponsered by Talis and administered by the Alliance Library System. It provides free buildings for libraries for a year, in return for a couple of hours staffing per week. It was created last week, and I was checking out the island because I’d blogged about how great I think the initiative is." To read the rest of this post click here.

Are any other libraries thinking of joining Cybrary City?

The World's Fastest Librarian

2006-11-09T08:49:00.001-05:00

The World’s Fastest Librarian is a twelve minute short film following Mary, a fictional public librarian at the Madison Public Library (as played by the UW SLIS Lab Library) as she prepares for the World’s Fastest Librarian Competition.

The World’s Fastest Librarian is a humorous tongue in cheek film that shows a different image of librarians than that usually found in films.
This film was a collaborative project involving over a dozen library school students.

It was a labor of love and is meant as a tribute to librarians everywhere.

Create you own online library

2006-11-03T18:38:00.000-05:00

If you have your own library in your house, this is the site for you! LibraryThing

This website allows you to enter/catalog the books you are reading. It links you up with other people who have the same interests. You can join a group, blog, discuss a book, or just arrange your books on a virtual bookshelf.

The first 200 books you enter are free. Enjoy!

Meebo

2006-10-28T18:22:00.000-04:00

Ok-I admit, I am as IM crazy as anyone. I have accounts with AOL, Yahoo! & MSN. I found a cool site Meebo . At this site you can log into all the other chat sites you use and it lists them down the right hand column. You only need to log into Meebo and set your profile to log in your accounts automatically. I also created the widget that is on this page. I named him Rex after Stephanie Plum's hamster in Janet Evanovich's books about the New Jersey bounty hunter. Please feel free to IM me if I am on.

Teen Second Life snags a library

2006-10-19T10:49:00.000-04:00

For those of you who haven't heard of Teen Second Life here's a blurb that describes it quite well:

"Teen Second Life is a 3-D, international gathering place on the Internet where teens 13-17 can make friends, play, learn and create. Teens create a digital version of themselves, called an avatar, that they use to travel around the "virtual world," meet new people and participate in a variety of activities."

This was an announcement from Oct 6th: http://alliancelibrarysystem.com/article.cfm?id=1176

Charlotte, NC - Oct. 6, 2006 -The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) and the Alliance Library System are pleased to announce a partnership to collaborate on the "Eye4You Alliance," an island in Teen Second Life that will offer virtual library services to teens.

If any of you attended the 2006 SLMS conference in Rochester, NY you heard Chris Harris (aka Infomancy) discuss the possibilities of Second Life. It is nice to see a library becoming involved. There is a library in Second Life but it isn't "officially" sponsored by a "real" library.

Second Life link

Workshops

2006-10-17T15:55:00.000-04:00

If you ever get a chance to take a workshop on Blogs, Podcasts, or Wikis-do it! Our local GST Boces is offering classes on these topics. Here are some notes:

---Wikis---

You can create new pages
You can edit other people's pages, unless someone else is editing
Not all wikis have to be logged into, not all are free. If you want a closed wiki, you have to pay.
Wikis allow you to edit (and others).
What I Know Is....(wiki)
Collaborative space
Good place for peer editing
You information can be changed by others....

England Wiki site:
http://www.wikiville.org.uk/index.php/Main_Page

Free Wiki sites:
http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers
http://www.jotspot.com
http://www.pbwiki.com

---Podcast---
Cross between radio and blogging
should be scripted before broadcasting
Takes advantage of RSS

---Blogs---
Online journal/diary
You can comment on a blog but alter a wiki

Article on the use of iPods in education

2006-05-09T09:20:00.000-04:00

If you are interested in what different universities are doing with ipods, check out the article in this month's issue of Multimedia & Internet @ Schools entitled "The Proof is in the Podding" by Stephen Abram. His email is stephen.abram@sirsidynix.com

The article discusses Duke Universities purchase of an Ipod for every student and the applications they used for them. What a great boost to education!

There is also a great list of resources at the end of the article including:

Chris Harris's blog Infomancy http://www.schoolof.info/infomancy

Duke University iPod First-Year Experience: Final Evaluation Report
http://cit.duke.edu/pdf/ipod_initiative_04_05.pdf

Great website

2006-04-03T13:11:00.000-04:00

If you are working with teens and are interested in what's new for teens-this is the website for you. It is a blog done by two teen librarians

http://www.yalibrarian.com/

Great information & updated often!

Building your own tools

2006-02-02T13:25:00.000-05:00

I have been altering MyYahoo! page to be easier to use. I am setting up RSS feeds from the websites I tend to visit such as CNN entertainment-Books & the NY Times book section. It is very easy to set up. If you have a lot of websites you visit daily, you might want to see if they offer RSS feeds and set up your own page.

The library

2006-01-20T19:26:00.000-05:00

We only have one more day before midterms begin. I have been trying to get the magazine order straightened out and the rest of the books cataloged in. I taught database researching this week to another class of seniors. I have to say I love http://citationmachine.net if you have never used this site, it shows you how to cite resources in MLA and APA format.

New Year 2006

2006-01-05T14:34:00.000-05:00

Thank goodness for the new year!

I plan to copresent at the SLMS conference in Rochester, NY in April, rejoin all the professional organizations I belong to, and continue to write reviews for the School Library Journal-I even sent them an article. I hope the new year finds you well! Don't forget to make professional New Year's resolutions!

Elmira College

2005-12-08T07:39:00.000-05:00

I also work at Elmira College as one of the weekend Reference Librarians. There are four of us who cover the Research Help Desk (as it is now called) at the college on Friday-Sunday from Labor Day weekend to Memorial Day weekend. Elmira subscribe to some great databases. Their home page is http://www.elmira.edu/academics/library.shtml. I will be at the college tomorrow night. I am hoping for a snow day from school, we are expecting 3-6" of snow tomorrow!

AASL Conference

2005-12-03T15:21:00.000-05:00

I attended the AASL Conference in October. I blogged for that http://noodletools.com/aasl and then remember that some time ago I had set up my own blog. I couldn't find it by searching or anything. Luckily I found this today by accident. I am sorry if you have looked for anything in the past year. I will begin posting regularly and will even add a link to my library webpage. If you would like to see my Online Media Center http://www.corningareaschools.com/east/library be my guest!

Welcome

2004-12-14T09:14:00.000-05:00

Librarians,

This is a site created by a librarian for librarians. I hope many of you find this site and are able to add knowledge of new resources, vent your frustrations, or ask for advice. If your library has a webpage, please feel free to share. If you are a currently library student, please join us.