Going Green @ Your Library
Interesting ideas and great links.
http://greeningyourlibrary.wordpress.com/
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Thing 22 - Staying Current
I have enjoyed working on the 23 Things over these past two months. I hereby resolve to maintain my blog and to wax eloquent about Library 2.0 and new tools in my future posts.
I have added the Librarian in Black and the LISNews to my blogroll and will try to keep up on Web 2.0 news through OPAL and NEFLIN.
I will also be looking at the Online College Blog to view more nifty things here at 100 powerful web tools to organize your thoughts and ideas.
I have added the Librarian in Black and the LISNews to my blogroll and will try to keep up on Web 2.0 news through OPAL and NEFLIN.
I will also be looking at the Online College Blog to view more nifty things here at 100 powerful web tools to organize your thoughts and ideas.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thing 21 - Student 2.0 Tools
The Assignment Calculator for college students was created by the University of Minnesota Libraries. This gives you a 12 step research timeline with recommended resources based on the subject selected. I entered a real project I am working on to see what would come up. The result looked like a very orderly and logical plan. Since I have already started this project, I am about on step 6 or 7.
The Research Project Calculator (RPC) consists of 5 steps and is a simplified version of the above, designed for high schoolers.
The Teacher guide to the RPC was full of handouts, some of which could be used in a library setting. For example, I thought that the one on What is Research and the ones on Plagiarism would be good for helping students in the library.
I think that teaching students how to get organized is very important, and the earlier they learn this, the better. I would encourage students to try these tools because if they stick to a timeline, then they will be in control and less stressed at the very last minute. It would increase the likelihood of turning in a superior paper.
The Research Project Calculator (RPC) consists of 5 steps and is a simplified version of the above, designed for high schoolers.
The Teacher guide to the RPC was full of handouts, some of which could be used in a library setting. For example, I thought that the one on What is Research and the ones on Plagiarism would be good for helping students in the library.
I think that teaching students how to get organized is very important, and the earlier they learn this, the better. I would encourage students to try these tools because if they stick to a timeline, then they will be in control and less stressed at the very last minute. It would increase the likelihood of turning in a superior paper.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Thing 20 - Books 2.0
In the “Future of the Book” I was reminded why I have decided against running out and buying a Kindle (besides the high price). It's just very basic: “Here the paper affords a persistent performative space while the Kindle affords a momentary screen image.” [March 22, 2009]
I read “Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?” I think this is a silly debate. Of course it's reading. As for quality, the quality of online reading varies just as much as for print materials.
The NEA reports that “Fiction Reading Increases for Adults.” They have found “reassuring evidence that the dumbing down of our culture is not inevitable.” Well, that's a relief.
I looked at TwitterLit and found it amusing. I bookmarked the site on Delicious to go back to later, but I did not sign up for the emails. They have “1400 first lines posted and counting.”
I am familiar with the site “What Should I Read Next?” It gave me 10 suggestions when I typed in Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell along with links to Amazon.com. This is very easy Reader's Advisory that patrons could do for themselves if we tell them to try out this site.
Book Glutton and Read Unbound pulls people together in the act of reading. The site says,“Books are conversations. Why wait until you're finished to discuss a book? Chat chapter by chapter.”
Booksprouts is an online community for book clubs. It makes it easy to create a club or join a club.
At Librivox you can listen for free to audio books in the public domain. They invite people to volunteer to be readers.
One Minute Critic was only mildly interesting. I did not see any way to look up a particular review. They just seem to be categorized by which month the review is posted. This is not really useful.
At “Just One More Book” you can find podcasts for children's books.
There are many more sites that promote reading listed on our Thing 20 and I plan on exploring these further at a later time.
I read “Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?” I think this is a silly debate. Of course it's reading. As for quality, the quality of online reading varies just as much as for print materials.
The NEA reports that “Fiction Reading Increases for Adults.” They have found “reassuring evidence that the dumbing down of our culture is not inevitable.” Well, that's a relief.
I looked at TwitterLit and found it amusing. I bookmarked the site on Delicious to go back to later, but I did not sign up for the emails. They have “1400 first lines posted and counting.”
I am familiar with the site “What Should I Read Next?” It gave me 10 suggestions when I typed in Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell along with links to Amazon.com. This is very easy Reader's Advisory that patrons could do for themselves if we tell them to try out this site.
Book Glutton and Read Unbound pulls people together in the act of reading. The site says,“Books are conversations. Why wait until you're finished to discuss a book? Chat chapter by chapter.”
Booksprouts is an online community for book clubs. It makes it easy to create a club or join a club.
At Librivox you can listen for free to audio books in the public domain. They invite people to volunteer to be readers.
One Minute Critic was only mildly interesting. I did not see any way to look up a particular review. They just seem to be categorized by which month the review is posted. This is not really useful.
At “Just One More Book” you can find podcasts for children's books.
There are many more sites that promote reading listed on our Thing 20 and I plan on exploring these further at a later time.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Thing 19 - Other Social Networks
The idea of specialized social networks interests me more than Facebook/MySpace because they seem like they would be more serious and more adult oriented.
Webjunction is a network for library staff, but it seemed kind of sterile to me. I looked around but did not get much out of it. It offers classes that you have to pay for. I looked at their Our Partners list and did not see Florida listed as one of their State Libraries partners.
Ning has a Library 2.0 list with 77 groups, such as Government Documents (44 members), Librarians in Turkey (13 members), Florida Public Librarians (24 members), and Medical Librarians (10 members).
I liked the opening page on Gather better than these other two because it gave reasons to join Gather that made sense. In About Gather it calls itself the premier social network for the over 30 crowd. There are thousands of Gather Groups for discussions of different interests. The Gather Books Essential claims 51,000 members and about 700 new posts in the past week. That seems a bit overwhelming to me. I could never keep up with all that.
The only network that I had any interest in was Goodreads which I had looked at a few weeks ago for my Adult Services class at USF (go Bulls!). I think I would like to use Goodreads for Reader's Advisory in the library.
Webjunction is a network for library staff, but it seemed kind of sterile to me. I looked around but did not get much out of it. It offers classes that you have to pay for. I looked at their Our Partners list and did not see Florida listed as one of their State Libraries partners.
Ning has a Library 2.0 list with 77 groups, such as Government Documents (44 members), Librarians in Turkey (13 members), Florida Public Librarians (24 members), and Medical Librarians (10 members).
I liked the opening page on Gather better than these other two because it gave reasons to join Gather that made sense. In About Gather it calls itself the premier social network for the over 30 crowd. There are thousands of Gather Groups for discussions of different interests. The Gather Books Essential claims 51,000 members and about 700 new posts in the past week. That seems a bit overwhelming to me. I could never keep up with all that.
The only network that I had any interest in was Goodreads which I had looked at a few weeks ago for my Adult Services class at USF (go Bulls!). I think I would like to use Goodreads for Reader's Advisory in the library.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Thing 18 - Facebook and MySpace
The Common Craft Show (how could we do our 23 Things without Lee LeFever?) said that social networking sites makes connections between people visible.
I set up a Facebook account last year because my daughter and some of my co-workers were on it and I wanted to see what the big deal was. I have barely used it since. Maybe I am not sociable enough to get into it. Maybe I am just too busy with other things (like library school) to get into the fun parts of it. It does seem to be another huge time waster. Okay, now you see the curmudgeon in me.
I had not really thought about Facebook as a tool for professional networking until I saw the list of the Hottest Facebook Groups for Librarians. Now those could be fun and useful. I joined the group of Future Librarians and Those Who Love Them.
I set up a Facebook account last year because my daughter and some of my co-workers were on it and I wanted to see what the big deal was. I have barely used it since. Maybe I am not sociable enough to get into it. Maybe I am just too busy with other things (like library school) to get into the fun parts of it. It does seem to be another huge time waster. Okay, now you see the curmudgeon in me.
I had not really thought about Facebook as a tool for professional networking until I saw the list of the Hottest Facebook Groups for Librarians. Now those could be fun and useful. I joined the group of Future Librarians and Those Who Love Them.
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