LibWorm.com provides a librarian RSS filtering service. Over 1500 RSS librarian sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest headlines from journals and sites in the Instant Messaging interest group. http://www.libworm.com/rss/librarianqueries.php Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:54:02 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2010/09/speaking-of-obsessions-whats-wrong-with.html Wow. Libs are running scared. Who knew they'd get so spooked by a little preaching and hand holding and praying on the Mall last week. I read Kathleen Parker's piece on Glenn Beck.* I have no idea what her point was--something about it being an AA meeting--but it doesn't sound like she's ever been to an Al-Anon or AA meeting. Liberal twaddle--attack the messenger, ignore the words. Here's what other readers wrote (the link was broken when I tried to leave a comment, so these came from reader's page:bryan37, "I'm no fan of Beck, but this is nothing more than an ad hominem attack. It really borders on being a little sick. Does Parker ever have anything insightful to write? I just never see it" [I wondered the same thing.]Chippewa said, "I've lost count of how many articles and columns the WAPO has run over the past two weeks, almost unanimously bashing Beck. The onslaught continues today. It's become the WAPO's surge. If he's such an idiot, why pay so much attention to him? Could it be because he's viewed as a threat to the Chosen One? Can't have that now, can we???"Jack 83 wrote: The post missed the boat on this one. It was obviously a wonderful experience for the people who enjoy Glenn and his ideas about things. It seemed to me the event was a nice bit of America that people are longing for instead of all the hate. Nice Event/Clueless story.MomDuke5 said: Your mockery of the program and pointing your finger at a man who has succeeded indicates to me if you had to do it you would fail. So what if you can compare his success with a program that has brought many people out of the despair and darkness of alcohol. Three cheers for him and his desire to show America if I can do it so can you! Faith of all kinds is all around you and your faith can set you free. Your reference to Mother Superior as Sarah Palin strikes a mean, nasty, anti Catholic view. ... Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:00:00 +0100 868615 http://blog.skagirlie.net/2010/08/23/over-productive/ I finished my other crafty bit. I really wasn’t intending to make it until next weekend, but a piece here and a piece there and then it was done. Even with a couple of mistakes thrown in, it didn’t take any time at all. Go me and my pattern making! Oh, what’s that? What am I talking about? I made yet another bag! Ok, this one is different because I came up with it night/morning while fighting a bout of insomnia. It started as this: I wanted a “gig bag” for going to shows. Compact, but able to hold the necessities. It also needed to be able to go hands free. The shoulder strap is designed to be removable, but there’s also a tote for when it’s strapless. I also designed in belt loops, so I can attach it to me during shows without having it weigh down on my shoulders and flapping all over the place during the jumpy parts. (‘-^*)/ So that was the initial idea, but it kept changing, and refining, and finally settled, only to demand to be made a.s.a.p. Problem was, I didn’t have all of the scribbles for the front panel. (Did I mention that this is also completely fangirly? ^^;) So it sat as an idea for over a month. When the last batch of scribbles went up, I picked a night and screen shot the heck out of youtube. Then it was time for photoshop fun! 20 layers worth! My head wanted the messenger flap to be red. However, my photoshop skills did not. Still, I was able to tint it, and it looks cool. The finished product looks simple enough, but I really did put a lot of thought into it. The lining is striped, but I deliberately picked a fabric with not exactly straight lines to match the scribble feel. The heart studs on the outside are actually hiding the stitching for the buttons on the inside. I didn’t fuss with a fabric strap, and bought belt strapping instead. Sealing the button holes was a little tricky, but I had the right tool. ... Mon, 23 Aug 2010 16:39:50 +0100 867230 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Digitization101/~3/5x6THRRgSDE/experience-before-training-part-2.html My blog post on Aug. 13 has generated several comments, a discussion on the  Archives and Archivists email list, private emails and a Meebo chat session.  I guess it touched a nerve!While several people noted that graduate programs require internships where students receive experience, the heart of the blog post is about having students obtain experience BEFORE they enter grad school.  As Rebecca commented, "experience does help give some perspective prior to school."  Peter noted that "[s]uch work experience would give people a better idea of what the profession is like."  In an email exchange, it was suggested that any type of work experience would serve a student well because it would provide knowledge about organizations, customer services, etc.  Indeed, a hiring manager would want a candidate to have some work experience in order to prove that the candidate can/will work!A few students (or recent graduates) felt that it was difficult to obtain an internship.  The fact that an organization has to create an appropriate internship then supervise the intern can make them a bit harder to find.  It should be noted that some institutions truly rely on interns in order to move new projects forward.  Ben comments that some internships contain more clerical work than they should, but I have to wonder if that could be because students haven't had enough practical experience?However, in obtaining experience before entering a graduate program, a person might volunteer in a cultural heritage organization doing whatever needs to be done.  No matter the job, that person is going to get a "peek behind the curtain" and have a better understanding of what that type of organization does.  Some institutions are also very reliant on volunteers and so a person should be able to find an opportunity. ... Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 865692 http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com/2010/08/experience-before-training-part-2.html My blog post on Aug. 13 has generated several comments, a discussion on the  Archives and Archivists email list, private emails and a Meebo chat session.  I guess it touched a nerve!While several people noted that graduate programs require internships where students receive experience, the heart of the blog post is about having students obtain experience BEFORE they enter grad school.  As Rebecca commented, "experience does help give some perspective prior to school."  Peter noted that "[s]uch work experience would give people a better idea of what the profession is like."  In an email exchange, it was suggested that any type of work experience would serve a student well because it would provide knowledge about organizations, customer services, etc.  Indeed, a hiring manager would want a candidate to have some work experience in order to prove that the candidate can/will work!A few students (or recent graduates) felt that it was difficult to obtain an internship.  The fact that an organization has to create an appropriate internship then supervise the intern can make them a bit harder to find.  It should be noted that some institutions truly rely on interns in order to move new projects forward.  Ben comments that some internships contain more clerical work than they should, but I have to wonder if that could be because students haven't had enough practical experience?However, in obtaining experience before entering a graduate program, a person might volunteer in a cultural heritage organization doing whatever needs to be done.  No matter the job, that person is going to get a "peek behind the curtain" and have a better understanding of what that type of organization does.  Some institutions are also very reliant on volunteers and so a person should be able to find an opportunity. ... Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 864952 http://centeredlibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/08/earth-and-our-moon-from-114-million.html click to enlargeFrom The Messenger website (Source: The Centered Librarian) Fri, 20 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 866628 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TechsourceBlog/~3/2LSbHrXKfDQ/using-technology-in-library-training-an-ala-techsource-workshop-with-paul-signorelli.ht Our goal in producing ALA TechSource Workshops is to provide a source of cost-effective, interactive, hands-on training. When it comes to using technology save your library money and increase its efficiency, you want to learn from someone who is part of your profession and has faced the same problems you face. In that spirit, we’re happy to announce our newest TechSource workshop, Using Technology in Library Training with Paul Signorelli. Librarians face the challenge of cross-training their often down-sized staff with lean budgets, as wells as training students and patrons to use library software. Training can be difficult and time-consuming, especially when it must be balanced with the effort to maintain day-to-day library services. Paul Signorelli will explain how to streamline your process with  free and low-cost tools like Skype, instant messaging, online discussion groups, or video in this two-part series:     Session 1: Using Technology to Enhance In-Person Training     Thursday, September 16th, 2:30pm Eastern         Session 2: Using Technology for Remote Training Sessions     Thursday, September 23rd, 2:30pm Eastern With 14 years of experience as  director of staff training and volunteer services at San Francisco Public Library,  Paul speaks not only as a technologist but as a teacher. He blogs for ALA’s Learning Round Table and you can read his posts here. You can register for each workshop separately for only $50, or save 15% by registering for both events for only $85.Sign up for both sessions Register for Session 1: Using Technology to Enhance In-Person Training Thursday, September 16th, 2:30pm Eastern Register for Session 2: Using Technology for Remote Training Sessions Thursday, September 23rd, 2:30pm Eastern (Source: ALA TechSource Blog) Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:58:02 +0100 867916 http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/6298 BERKMAN BUZZ: A look at the past week's online Berkman conversations If you would like to receive the Buzz weekly via email, please sign up here. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * What's being discussed...take your pick or browse below. * Stuart Shieber defends publication-fee OA journals. * Peter Suber intertwines search and open access. * Ethan Zuckerman blogs Kate Crawford's "art of noise" talk. * Radio Berkman 161: "A Brief History of Noise" * David Weinberger, calling all flatfooted programmers! * ProjectVRM previews the upcoming VRM+CRM Workshop. * Doc Searls is not an eyeball. * OpenNet Initiative on UAE vs. BlackBerry. * Jonathan Zittrain puzzles through Blackberry encryption, via Yossarian's tent-mate. * CMLP on warrantless FBI information gathering and ISPs. * Harry Lewis isn't surprised about fully body scanners. * Weekly Global Voices: "Cambodia: Mixed views on Duch Verdict" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The full buzz. "D expects publication fees to hyperinflate, with scholars unhappily having to acquiesce to a kind of extortion. This worry of runaway publication fees leads D to the conclusion that publication fees are an unsustainable business model for open access journals. The problem with the argument becomes transparent when one sees that it applies equally well to subscription journals. Nothing prevents subscription journals from charging publication fees, and many do." From Stuart Shieber's blog post Will open-access publication fees grow out of control? "In 1979, William Garvey made a remarkable claim: " ... in some disciplines, it is easier to repeat an experiment than it is to determine that the experiment has already been done." (See W.D. Garvey, Communication: The essence of science, Pergamon Press, Oxford 1979, p. 8. ... Fri, 06 Aug 2010 22:00:00 +0100 865919 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Digitization101/~3/r-MASBBv4CE/blog-no-more-outsourcing-digitization.html This morning, Misty contacted me through Meebo for a quick chat and it turns out she is blogging about digitization.  An archivist in Ontario (Canada), her passion is thinking about and creating do-it-yourself (DIY) digitization systems.  Misty has already written very thoughtful (and likely thought-provoking) posts on the subject, even though her blog is just two months old.  If you are interested in DIY as a strategy, you'll want to add her blog to your reading/skimming list.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. (Source: Digitization 101) Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 865701 http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com/2010/08/blog-no-more-outsourcing-digitization.html This morning, Misty contacted me through Meebo for a quick chat and it turns out she is blogging about digitization.  An archivist in Ontario (Canada), her passion is thinking about and creating do-it-yourself (DIY) digitization systems.  Misty has already written very thoughtful (and likely thought-provoking) posts on the subject, even though her blog is just two months old.  If you are interested in DIY as a strategy, you'll want to add her blog to your reading/skimming list.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. (Source: Digitization 101) Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:00:00 +0100 864961 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/08/02/report-highlights-what-do-americans-do-online-the-top-10/ From the Nielsen Wire Post: Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time online on social networking sites and blogs, up from 15.8 percent just a year ago (43 percent increase) according to new research released today from The Nielsen Company. The research revealed that Americans spend a third their online time (36 percent) communicating A table and two graphs are included. The Top 5 1. Social Networks (Up 43% vs. June 2009) 2. Online Gaming (Up 10% vs. June 2009) 3. E-Mail (Down 28% vs. June 2009) 4. Portals (Down 19% vs. June 2009) 5. Instant Messaging (Down 15% vs. June 2009) 7. Search (Up 1% vs. June 2009) Access the Complete Nielsen Wire Post Source: Nielsen Wire, The Nielsen Company (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:16:08 +0100 864133 http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/aug/01/stewart-lee-collecting-comics-stand-up What happens to a man who compulsively collects comics, books, records and CDs? He becomes very good at building shelves… Comedian Stewart Lee on the challenges and hazards of extreme storageWhat are days for?" asks the curmudgeonly poet Philip Larkin in his poem Days, questioning the very point of living. He is unable to offer any real comfort, concluding: "Ah, solving that question/brings the priest and the doctor/in their long coats/running over the fields." For Larkin the idea of days, and what to do with them, represents the problem of existence boiled down to its barest essentials. I have a similar relationship with shelves.I love shelves, and if only I could work out exactly which of the many books, comics, records and compact discs that I own I should fill them with, and how many shelves I require to do this, I have always imagined my life would be complete. At the age of 43, I am finally in a solid-looking house, with my solid-looking family, where I imagine, uncharacteristically, I will stay for some time. I am well on the way, through my own efforts and those of contracted shelving professionals, to having the shelving system I have dreamed of since childhood, most of it concealed in nooks, cellars and the designated shelf room, so as not to destroy the internal integrity of our long-dreamed-of living space. But even as the shelves approach their final configuration, it seems the same doubts and fears about life and its purpose linger on, as if the answer to everything did not lie in the construction of shelving systems after all. I wonder where this profound faith in shelving began.When I was about five years old, I bought a copy of an American comic book called Captain Marvel off the lower rung of a revolving rack of True Detective, soft porn and pulpy thriller magazines, in a newsagent on the A34 just outside Birmingham. I was snagged. ... Sat, 31 Jul 2010 23:07:52 +0100 863668 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/31/old-spring-richard-francis-review Maggie Gee finds much to admire in a subtle tale of life in the public barDrinkers queue up here! Richard Francis's The Old Spring is the name of his fictional pub, but the title also tells you a lot about this unusual, sweet-tempered novel. It's about the life-spring bubbling up from the dark in old age, the drive to sex and love and laughter in the public bar where an odd assortment of humans huddles for warmth, swapping amazing facts about, say, dung-beetles or wrens. "One thing foxes are no good at . . . is climbing up a ladder." It's a day in the life, a literal and metaphorical day of reckoning, because the books of the pub are £900 short, and the brewery's creepy rep, Tim, is due to go over them with the landlords, Frank and Dawn. In the basement below, there's endless night, only dispelled when Frank makes his portly way downstairs for a new barrel.In one way, not much happens – the talk simmers on, customers drift in and out, Frank does voices ("Hi thang yow!"). In another way, everything happens, all of it mediated through the rhythms of conversation (for this is that rare and technically demanding thing, a novel of conversation, like Ivy Compton-Burnett's). People evade worse criminals than themselves, perform impromptu sex acts, find ways of being kind, visit the sick and pray for the dead. The moral lessons are bracingly unprudish – sex of all sorts makes people feel better; live before you die; love is heroic, but possible.It's sex and death that frame it all, the fire upstairs and the dark below. Frank must mend the broken grate so the flames will warm his customers, but his guilty secret has made him neglect the nether fires of his lean, tough-talking wife Dawn. Father Thomas, the humane, lonely lay brother who calls himself a priest, broods over the sudden death of his friend Brother Julian, "the loss of [his] whole mortal intricate particularity". ... Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:06:00 +0100 863520 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/07/27/would-people-pay-to-use-twitter-other-findings-from-the-2010-digital-future-report/ The 2010 USC Annenberg Digital Future Study has been released. The full text report is fee-based (between $500-1500 depending on usage) but highlights are available in this PDF file. Without a doubt making the most news from this report is the finding that people would not pay to use Twitter. The annual study of the impact of the Internet on Americans by the Center for the Digital Future found that 49 percent of Internet users said they have used free micro-blogs such as Twitter. But when asked if they would be willing to pay for Twitter, zero percent said yes. “Such an extreme finding that produced a zero response underscores the difficulty of getting Internet users to pay for anything that they already receive for free,” said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. What’s amazing to us is that it’s zero percent. You would think some (just a few) would find enough value in Twitter to pay for it. The summary does not mention how much money people said no to. Would they not spend $50/year but spend $15/year? That’s an important number to know and we’re going to try and find out. We also wonder if the same question was asked about Google, Bing, Facebook, etc. Again, we’re going to try and find out. While it’s true that once you give it away it’s difficult to get people to pay for it would extra features get people to pay? What could get people to pay? The cable/satellite tv and bottled water industries did it. Starbucks has also done it. ... Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:38:03 +0100 862730 http://librarywriting.blogspot.com/2010/07/cfp-popular-culture-and-classroom.html CFP: Popular Culture and the ClassroomSouthwest/Texas Popular Culture Association & PCA/ACA Joint ConferenceApril 20-23, 2011San Antonio, TXProposal Deadline: December 15, 2010Conference Hotel: Marriott Rivercenter San Antonio101 Bowie StreetSan Antonio, TX 78205Phone 1-210-223-1000Papers (panelists) needed to examine role of popular culture in today’s classrooms (which includes secondary classrooms or college classrooms) at the Southwest and Texas Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Annual Conference (meeting with the PCA/ACA) April 20-23, 2011 in San Antonio, TX.Here’s a quick test for today’s educators:“Glee,” Facebook, “American Idol.” “Lady Gaga, “Mad Men,” “Lost.” Ipods. Celebrity Weddings and Break-ups. “Twilight,” Twitter, Instant Messaging, Reality Television. Superhero Films. Comic Books and Graphic Novels. X-Box. “LOL and IM Speak” Cell phones. Text messaging. Advertising and Stereotypes.The list may cause some teachers and professors to scratch their heads, but to our students, these entries would be part of the daily vocabulary of being a student today.From instant messages discussing homework to the Ipod Revolution, high school and college students are often the experts when it comes to technological advances and cultural awareness. As educators, it’s increasingly important we embrace popular culture whenever possible to create meaningful lessons that help students link the curriculum we teach with the world they live in and understand.Whether a single lesson idea, a scholarly paper, or a theme for a course, the “Popular Culture and the Classroom” section of this conference seeks teachers with new ideas of how to use popular culture effectively in the classroom. ... Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0100 864048 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/digizen/~3/vKqcKPYDI00/ Hace algún tiempo había explorado la llamada “barra de Meebo”, una herramienta que añade una cinta al final de una página web o blog con varios botones mediante los cuales los visitantes pueden: 1. acceder su sistema preferido de chat y conversar con el autor del blog 2. explorar actividad reciente del autor del blog en Tweeter, Facebook, Youtube, Flickr, entre otros. 3. Recomendar página de forma automática en Tweeter, Facebook, Yahoo o por email. La instalación es bien sencilla y para los blogs de WordPress existe un plugin que facilita la misma. Puede experimentar con la barra de Meebo al final de esta página. (Source: DigiZen: Un blogfesor aprendiendo) Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:03:03 +0100 862427 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/25/michael-munn-biographer-interview-tim-adams Michael Munn claims to have had astoundingly eventful friendships with Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Steve McQueen and a host of other stars. Those who doubt him include their families – and his ownSitting with Michael Munn, biographer to the stars, in a somewhat bleak pub near his home in Sudbury, Suffolk, I can't get out of my head that classic Pete 'n' Dud sketch in which the flat-capped Peter Cook reveals to Dudley Moore the problems he is having being harassed by the likes of "bloody Greta Garbo". Munn, an affable man of 57, has long been a stalwart of Sudbury amateur dramatics; he still harbours ambitions of moving to Colchester, "just for the buzz". As he sips at a lunchtime half of lager, and tucks into his chicken salad, he is telling me of the time that Ava Gardner wouldn't take no for an answer."Ava was a brief but very intense relationship," he suggests, matter-of-factly. "After the first time, we'd meet in the afternoons at hotels in Knightsbridge or wherever." I try to picture the scene. Gardner would have been 45 and Munn 17. He'd not long left school in London, was living with his parents, and had recently been working for British Railways as a trainee in their health and safety department. Ava had moved to London to star opposite James Mason as the Empress of Austria in the film Mayerling. The unlikely pair had met, Munn explains, when he had delivered a package to her – he was by that time apparently working as a messenger boy for a film company – and asked to use her lavatory. "One thing led to another," he explains, with a shrug.The connection was such that before long Ava had, Munn claims, chosen him as the person to whom she would confide all she knew about her ex-husband, Frank Sinatra, and his vendetta against mafia boss Sam Giancana, which in turn became the inside story of the Kennedys' involvement in the murder of Marilyn Monroe. ... Sat, 24 Jul 2010 23:05:59 +0100 862017 http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=2550 While most experts agree that a single-minded focus on the short term can cause negative consequences for companies, they also suggest that blaming quarterly earnings reports, and the pressure to meet analysts' targets or company guidance, is like shooting the messenger. Although the system of quarterly earnings might be broken, fixing it is no easy matter and might create even more pressure to produce immediate results. (Source: Knowledge@Wharton) Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:16:28 +0100 862138 http://medinfo.netbib.de/archives/2010/07/16/3753 Jeder, der einige Zeit in einer Bibliothek gearbeitet hat, kennt die Sprüche, Vorurteile oder Regeln, die von Bibliothekarsgeneration zu Generation weitergegeben werden. Einige sind seit grauer Vorzeit unverändert, andere habe eine Anpassung an moderne Kommunikationsmethoden erfahren… 1. Der Bibliothekar muß den Benutzer als dumm betrachten, informationsinkompetent, RSS-unwissend, ein Nichtstuer (andernfalls säße er an der Arbeit) und YouTube-Süchtiger. 2. Es muß sehr viel Sorgfalt darauf verwandt werden, den Online-Katalog der Bücher möglichst schwer benutzbar zu machen, und ihn von Nutzer-Annotationen freizuhalten. Nach Möglichkeit sollte die Oberfläche immer genau dann eine totale Revision erfahren, wenn man sich gerade an die kryptische Bedienung gewöhnt hat. Der Katalog sollte das genaue Gegenteil von Amazon sein und einen Ausdruck oder Download so gut wie unmöglich machen. 3. Die Schlagworte müssen vom Bibliothekar in einer aufwendigen Gremienarbeit bestimmt werden, die alle innovativen Kräfte im Lande bindet. Weder dürfen die Leser Schlagwörter vergeben noch die Bücher einen Hinweis auf die Schlagworte tragen, unter denen sie aufgeführt werden sollen. Die Schlagwortsuche im Online-Katalog muß so versteckt und ineffizient sein, dass keiner sie je benutzen wird. Das System der Schlagwörter sollte alle paar Jahre wechseln, so dass es nicht einen, sondern mehrere Schlagwortkataloge gibt, die man durchsuchen muß. Ein Browsen nach Fachgebieten ist gänzlich zu verhindern. 4. Es sollte möglichst überhaupt nicht möglich sein, Online-Bücher zu lesen, geschweige denn auszudrucken oder zu zitieren. Falls es von Rechts wegen doch eine Download-Option gibt, muß der Weg weit und der Zugang beschwerlich sein, und die Zahl der Kopien begrenzt auf höchstens zwei bis drei Seiten. 5. Das Ausleihverfahren für E-Books muß abschreckend sein. 6. Die Auskunft muß im Web 2.0 unerreichbar sein. ... Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:15:18 +0100 861346 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/XPXcwsbQppA/use-chrome-like-pro.html This week I sent a note to Googlers about some of the Chrome team's favorite extensions. So many of them asked if they could share the list with people outside the company that I thought I would just do it for them. Here it is. We're proud of the Chrome browser and the great extensions that its developer community has created, and we hope you enjoy them! They can all be found at chrome.google.com/extensions.Opinion Cloud: Summarizes comments on YouTube videos and Flickr photos to provide an overview of the crowd’s overall opinion.Google Voice: All sorts of helpful Voice features directly from the browser. See how many messages you have, initiate calls and texts, or call numbers on a site by clicking on them.AutoPager. Automatically loads the next page of a site. You can just scroll down instead of having to click to the next page.Turn Off the Lights: Fades the page to improve the video-watching experience.Google Dictionary: Double-click any word to see its definition, or click on the icon in the address bar to look up any word.After the Deadline: Checks spelling, style, and grammar on your emails, blog, tweets, etc. Invisible Hand: Does a quick price check and lets you know if the product you are looking at is available at a lower price elsewhere.Secbrowsing: Checks that your plug-ins (e.g. Java, Flash) are up to date.Tineye: Image search utility to find exact matches (including cropped, edited, or re-sized images).Slideshow: Turns photo sites such as Flickr, Picasa, Facebook, and Google Images into slideshows.Google Docs/PDF Viewer: Automatically previews pdfs, powerpoint presentations, and other documents in Google Docs Viewer.Readability: Reformat the page into a single column of text. Chromed Bird: A nice Twitter viewing extension.Feedsquares: Cool way of viewing your feeds via Google Reader.ScribeFire: Full-featured blog editor that lets you easily post to any of your blogs. ... Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0100 859947 http://digital-scholarship.com/digitalkoans/2010/07/14/mobile-access-2010/ The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released Mobile Access 2010 Here's an excerpt: Six in ten American adults are now wireless internet users, and mobile data applications have grown more popular over the last year. As of May 2010, 59% of all adult Americans go online wirelessly. Our definition of a wireless internet user includes the following activities: Going online with a laptop using a wi-fi connection or mobile broadband card. Roughly half of all adults (47%) go online in this way, up from the 39% who did so at a similar point in 2009. Use the internet, email or instant messaging on a cell phone. Two in five adults (40%) do at least one of these using a mobile device, an increase from the 32% of adults who did so in 2009. Taken together, 59% of American adults now go online wirelessly using either a laptop or cell phone, an increase over the 51% of Americans who did so at a similar point in 2009. (Source: DigitalKoans) Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0100 859940 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalKoans/~3/Z6EfpcVpqz0/ The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released Mobile Access 2010 Here's an excerpt: Six in ten American adults are now wireless internet users, and mobile data applications have grown more popular over the last year. As of May 2010, 59% of all adult Americans go online wirelessly. Our definition of a wireless internet user includes the following activities: Going online with a laptop using a wi-fi connection or mobile broadband card. Roughly half of all adults (47%) go online in this way, up from the 39% who did so at a similar point in 2009. Use the internet, email or instant messaging on a cell phone. Two in five adults (40%) do at least one of these using a mobile device, an increase from the 32% of adults who did so in 2009. Taken together, 59% of American adults now go online wirelessly using either a laptop or cell phone, an increase over the 51% of Americans who did so at a similar point in 2009. (Source: DigitalKoans) Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:01:22 +0100 859719 http://www.cla-net.org/weblog/2010/07/david_a_tyckoso.php Candidate for Vice President/President-Elect Associate Dean Henry Madden Library California State University, Fresno davety@csufresno.edu Short Biography I am currently serving as the Associate Dean of the new and award-winning Henry Madden Library at California State University, Fresno. My primary professional background has been in reference. I have been a reference librarian since 1978 - and still contribute hours each week to in-person and Instant Messenger reference service. I have written many articles on reference service and presented at a number of conferences, including CLA. I teach an online course on the Reference Interview through ALA/RUSA and am currently working on a course on 21st century reference collections for Infopeople, which will be available in November of this year. I first joined the California Library Association shortly after moving to the state in 1997. I served as Chair of the Reference Services Section in 2003-2004 and was a member of the Conference Program Committee in 2004. My activities in CLA declined during subsequent years due to my involvement in the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of ALA. I was elected RUSA President and spent several years involved in RUSA and ALA. Now that my RUSA/ALA commitments have expired, I am ready to use the invaluable connections, perspective, leadership, and organizational management experiences as President of RUSA to succeed as your leader and spokesperson for CLA Vision for CLA It is not news to claim that these are distressing - and at the same time, exciting - times for libraries in California. The economic downturn and the state's legislative dysfunction have left libraries struggling not only to serve their communities, but to survive. Branch closings, reductions in hours, layoffs and furloughs of staff, and reduced buying power for collections have unfortunately become the norm, not the exception. ... Tue, 13 Jul 2010 19:09:00 +0100 860155 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/07/12/a-new-report-from-mcafee-labs-social-networking-apps-pose-surprising-security-challenges/ 3 Paragraphs from the Report: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn—oh my! If we’re not using these services ourselves or hearing about them in the media, our friends, colleagues, and children remind us each day of their existence. Although Web 2.0 may be a buzzword we all love to hate, media-rich web applications that allow information sharing among users are here to stay and growing in popularity. An article written in October 2009 (so it’s clearly out of date) on the size of Facebook’s data center states Facebook stores approximately 80 billion photos and serves up approximately 600,000 photos per second—making it the largest photo archive in the world.1 Social networking web applications such as Facebook are a big deal. As social networking gains users, it will increasingly be targeted by attackers, just as instant messaging and other media have been. For an interesting view on how platform prevalence draws attackers like bees to pollen, see the IEEE article “When Malware Attacks (Anything but Windows).” One popular technology ripe for exploitation in social network applications is the “mashup.” (Wikipedia: “A mashup is a web page or application that uses or combines data or functionality from two or many more external sources to create a new service.”) From the perspective of an application provider such as Google, mashups allow their applications—for example, Google Maps—to become more widely used and embedded within other new applications, like Yelp or the iPhone operating system. However, as we’ll soon see, attackers have also been using mashups to their advantage. Summary (via McAfee Research Blog) Access Full Text Report/White Paper: Social Networking Apps Pose Surprising Security Challenges (6 pages; PDF) Source: McAfee Labs (Source: ResourceShelf) Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:11:08 +0100 858978 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TravelinLibrarian/~3/N7eqqqcIs3E/ Here’s a list of the Apps I’ve installed on my Android device. Aldiko http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.aldiko.android Amazon http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.amazon.mShop.android App Referrer http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.drathus.android.appreferer Audible http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.audible.android.app Backgrounds http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.stylem.wallpapers Barcode Scanner http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.google.zxing.client.android Bookmarking for Delicious.com http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:org.peterbaldwin.client.android.delicious Borders Reader http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.kobobooks.bordersus.android Boxee Remote http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.sunilsadasivan.Boxee Bubble Burst Free http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.androgames.BubbleBurst Chess http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.google.android.chess ConnecToo Demo http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:sk.halmi.connectoodemo demoPlayer http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:org.freecoder.android.cmplayer DockRunner http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.activefrequency.android.dockrunner Documents To Go http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.dataviz.docstogo doubleTwist http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.doubleTwist.androidPlayer Dropbox http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.dropbox.android eReader http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.ereader.android.fictionwise ES File Explorer http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.estrongs.android.pop ES Task Manager http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.estrongs.android.taskmanager Evernote http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.evernote FCC Speed Test http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com.ookla.fccbroadband Foursquare http://market.android.com/search?q=pname:com. ... Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:30:46 +0100 858396 http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/07/short-notes-on-bob-sutton-webinar.html I registered and listened to the webinar featuring Bob Sutton, author of Good Boss, Bad Boss and The No Asshole Rule (which I read. You can find my note on it here). Besides the fact that I happen to find the work interesting, I think that some of what Mr. Sutton writes is very applicable to librarianship. Plus, the webinar was free. These are then my notes from the presentation.From the presentation's opening:"Some things are still a mystery to me, and others are much too clear." --Jimmy Buffett. The quote was used to open the presentation.One mystery to Mr. Sutton is how to do a good performance evaluation. I will say that it is a mystery to me as well. In fact, Sutton has blogged on that very topic. He said during the presentation that, overall, the academic literature on the topic is not very encouraging, but that you can find some stuff on questions to use that may be good.Effective leaders are self-obsessed without being egomaniacs. The effective leaders think about what they do because they have chosen to be concerned with how they come across to others. The problem is that bosses are usually very oblivious to their subordinates. The good bosses are less oblivious. In the meantime, the subordinates are hyper-focused on the boss. Bosses, or those who are promoted to management, often face the problem of power poisoning. The power poisoning is evident in patterns such as the boss only focusing on his own needs and concerns and in acting as if the rules did not apply to him.Bosses who focus on who they lead tend to be better bosses.Some themes: Sutton discussed the following themes:Assertiveness. Good bosses are moderately assertive. They know when to push and when to back off, which is an art. I will say that it can be an art that a good number of library administrators fail to achieve. Sutton suggests that assertiveness is more important than charisma. The best management is sometimes no management at all. ... Thu, 08 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0100 858151 http://ksulib.typepad.com/genref/2010/07/teaching-through-virtual-reference.html At ALA 2009 I saw Megan Oakleaf talk about a fascinating study in which she and her co-investigators coded IM reference transactions for the presence of 8 different instructional strategies. I am happy to see that she and Amy VanScoy have published this research in RUSAQ.  I highly recommend this article as required reading for everyone who provides virtual reference service. If nothing else, please look at the table of instructional strategies on page 384 and then try incorporating them into your virtual reference interactions (note: Jing is a great way to achieve strategy 3 "show, don't tell."). Oakleaf, Megan, and Amy VanScoy. "Instructional Strategies for Digital Reference: Methods to Facilitate Student Learning." Reference & User Services Quarterly 49.4 (2010): 380-390. If you have other ideas about how to implement the strategies, please share via commenting. (Source: K-State Libraries: General Reference) Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:01:56 +0100 859031 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/07/07/new-report-and-statistics-mobile-internet-2010-overall-usage-up-data-usage-sees-dramatic-growth/ A new report by Aaron Smith, “Mobile Internet, 2010″ from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The numbers show mobile usage (both voice and data) continues to boom in the U.S. From On Overview: Cell phone and wireless laptop internet use have each grown more prevalent over the last year. + Nearly half of all adults (47%) go online with a laptop using a Wi-Fi connection or mobile broadband card (up from the 39% who did so as of April 2009) + 40% of adults use the internet, email or instant messaging on a mobile phone (up from the 32% of Americans who did this in 2009). + This means that 59% of adults now access the internet wirelessly using a laptop or cell phone—that is, they answered “yes” to at least one of these wireless access pathways. That adds up to an increase from the 51% who used a laptop or cell phone wirelessly in April 2009. Data Applications The use of non-voice data applications on cell phones has grown dramatically over the last year. Compared with a similar point in 2009, cell phone owners are now more likely to use their mobile phones to: + Take pictures—76% now do this, up from 66% in April 2009 + Send or receive text messages—72% vs. 65% + Access the internet—38% vs. 25% + Play games—34% vs. 27% + Send or receive email—34% vs. 25% + Record a video—34% vs. 19% + Play music—33% vs. 21% + Send or receive instant messages—30% vs. 20% User Groups African-Americans and English-speaking Latinos continue to be among the most active users of the mobile web. Cell phone ownership is higher among African-Americans and Latinos than among whites (87% vs. 80%) and minority cell phone owners take advantage of a much greater range of their phones’ features compared with white mobile phone users. In total, 64% of African-Americans access the internet from a laptop or mobile phone, a seven-point increase from the 57% who did so at a similar point in 2009. ... Wed, 07 Jul 2010 17:36:19 +0100 857681 http://ramblinglibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/07/disability-sports-showcase-at-public.html Overheard: "Daddy, daddy, these are sports played by the disabled!"More like the 'Abled', I wanted to tell her. Yesterday, on 3 Jul 2010, the Public Libraries held a Disability Sports Showcase at Woodlands Regional Library. The event, organised by my Public Libraries colleagues, was in partnership with by Special Olympics Singapore and Handicaps Welfare Association and a few other sponsors From the NLB Press Release, 3 Jul 2010:Besides enabling library users to browse the wide collection of resources on topics related to disability and sports, the event also provided a platform for the participants to engage in disability sports demonstrations of bocce, floor hockey and other sports competed at the Special Olympics.A sharing session at the Disability Sports Showcase was held with athletes from Special Olympics Singapore, their family members and Ms Hanako Sawayama, an athlete with the Special Olympics for 17 years. Together, they shared their experiences on disability sports as well as the positive impact of reading on their lives. Ms Sawayama is also a Special Olympics' International Global Messenger who travels the world to speak about the Games.In the auditorium, the library's Junior Reading Ambassadors performing a skit, adapted from Robin Pulver's book, "Way to go, Alex!":NLBsearchplus There was also a prize-giving ceremony for the winners of the Design-A-Card Game contest (details of this card game is in the later part of this post):SPECIAL OLYMPICS SPORTS SHOWCASEThis was the highlight of the day; the reason why the event was organised. One of the main aim was to educate the general public that people need not be excluded from sports because of their disabilities The game of Floor Hockey was one of the Special Olympics sport being exhibited: This was Bocce:This was a demonstration of a Badminton training exercise, to develop the player's footwork and psycho-motor skills. ... Sun, 04 Jul 2010 04:00:00 +0100 856947 http://jmrl.blogspot.com/2010/06/book-review_30.html The City of EmberBy Jeanne DuPrauThe year is 241. An underground city, built to ensure the survival of the human race after a great catastrophe on Earth, is slowly disintegrating. The inhabitants of the city cower in fear as the lights above begin to flicker, sometimes going out and plunging the city in complete darkness. The canned food is running low, causing hunger within every home, and the Generator, which keeps every light in the city burning, is slowly beginning to fail. People are afraid to think of what could happen to them if all the lights of the city go out forever.12-year-old Lina, a city messenger, and her determined friend Doon, a Pipeworks laborer, discover an old box with a torn piece of paper within. Together, the two study the piece of paper to find instructions that may lead them out of the underground city, and save them and the rest of the inhabitants of Ember from a dark and dangerous future...I enjoyed this post-apocalyptic book tremendously. The characters and the city in which they lived seemed very real. The book was hard to put down, as there was always a surprise around the corner. I'd recommend this book to anyone!Rating: *****Review by Raven, grade 10 (Source: JMRL Young Adult Services) Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0100 856661 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoblinCartoons/~3/x8InhreZkLE/ I recently decided to take a hiatus from the Library Society of the World. I’ve got a lot going on in my personal life (that I don’t really feel like talking about here) (but in case anyone’s worried, let me reassure you, it’s good stuff, not bad), plus a lot going on at work, and the LSW was starting to feel like work, not play. So, I decided to step back and take a break. We’ll see how long that break actually lasts, though, because just after I declared my hiatus, the superhuman Laura Crossett took it upon herself to upgrade the LSW site to WordPress 3.0 and install BuddyPress. The LSW site is now a fully-functioning social site! You can create your own profile, send private messages to other members, create groups, post to the forums–it’s really awfully cool! I sincerely hope people take advantage of the site in the same way they’ve taken advantage of FriendFeed, the original LSW wiki, Twitter and Meebo–to make and build professional and personal connections. And since the new site is a lot more fun, I may come back from my hiatus sooner than I’d originally thought. (Source: the goblin in the library) Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:37:08 +0100 855851 http://www.cla-net.org/weblog/2010/06/san_jose_slis_a_2.php Use of text messaging is skyrocketing, and our nation's libraries are starting to explore new ways to tap into this increasingly popular communication platform to connect with their patrons. Dr. Lili Luo, an assistant professor with the San Jose School of Library and Information Science, will conduct the first in-depth research regarding how libraries can meet their patron's information-seeking needs via text messaging. Thanks to a $122,683 grant award from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Luo will conduct a two-year study of how libraries can use text messaging as a platform for providing virtual reference services, as well as how they can collaboratively deliver services and expand their ability to meet patron needs during challenging economic times. . Engaging a New Generation of Library Users: Exploring a Multi-Library Collaborative Model to Deliver Text Reference Service will investigate how text reference service is different from other types of virtual reference services (such as email and instant messaging) and how it can fulfill users' information needs. Luo will also study whether text reference provides an opportunity for libraries to engage new users, including our nation's teens - the fastest growing group of individuals using text messaging. Luo will study the rich pool of data available via InfoQuest, the nation's first large-scale collaboration by numerous libraries to provide text reference services. Launched in July 2009 by Alliance Library System, today more than 60 libraries from multiple states participate in InfoQuest. They include a wide array of library types, including urban, suburban, and rural libraries, small and large libraries, and public, academic, school, and law libraries. ... Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:03:00 +0100 855648 http://keptup.typepad.com/academic/2010/06/if-you-want-to-reach-students-forget-email-better-text.html A new Ball State University study indicates that text messaging has far eclipsed e-mail and instant messaging as college  (Source: The Kept-Up Academic Librarian) Wed, 23 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0100 854271 http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jun/20/ronald-neame-obituary Producer, director and cinematographer of many well-loved British film classics, including Oliver Twist, Tunes of Glory and The Prime of Miss Jean BrodieThe producer, director, writer and cinematographer Ronald Neame, who has died aged 99, played an important role in British cinema for more than half a century. The critic Matthew Sweet once called him "a living embodiment of cinema, a sort of one-man world heritage site". Neame was assistant director to Alfred Hitchcock on Blackmail (1929), the first British talkie; he was the cinematographer on In Which We Serve (1942), Noël Coward's moving tribute to the Royal Navy during the second world war; he co-produced and co-wrote David Lean's Brief Encounter (1945) and Great Expectations (1946); and he directed Alec Guinness in two of his best roles, in The Horse's Mouth (1958) and Tunes of Glory (1960). As if this wasn't enough, Neame also conquered Hollywoo d with one of the first and most successful disaster movies, The Poseidon Adventure (1972).Neame came from a film-making family. His father, Elwin, was a well-known photographer who directed four films starring Ronald's mother, Ivy Close. She acted in dozens of silent pictures, including Abel Gance's innovative La Roue (The Wheel, 1923), of which Jean Cocteau pronounced: "There is cinema before and after La Roue, as there is painting before and after Picasso." Although none of Ronald Neame's films could claim as much, cinema was part of his DNA. "You could say I was really born in a film studio," he explained. "My mother was making a film up to six weeks before I was born ... She took me on the set when I was just two or three months old, rather proudly."His father was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1923, and around this time his mother withdrew from acting, so Neame left school aged 15 to find work. His first job was as an office boy with the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. ... Sun, 20 Jun 2010 17:38:00 +0100 853607 http://liszen.com/trends/story.php?title=ldquoThe_Mask_Messengerrdquo_performance_at_Hilo_Public_Library_Tuesday_--- Faustwork Mask Theatre's "The Mask Messenger" will be a featured performer for the 2010 HSPLS Children's and Teen Summer Reading Programs at six sele (Source: pligg - all) Mon, 14 Jun 2010 07:00:21 +0100 852015 http://www.slaw.ca/2010/06/09/e-records-should-be-treated-same-as-paper/ The Law Society of Upper Canada is having a teleseminar at noon today entitled “The New Guide to File Retention and File Destruction.” I’m one of the speakers – talking about issues relating to electronic records. One of the fundamental principles of electronic records from a records retention and destruction perspective, is that electronic records should be retained and destroyed on the same schedule as paper records. As I was thinking about the issues, it occurred to me that if I had to hazard a guess, I suspect many law firms, and many businesses for that matter, have not come to grips with this yet.  The reason is simple.  Take the period of time a file is active, then add to that the time a closed file should be retained. (The LSUC suggests 15 years for typical files.)  Then consider how long electronic records have been around in a significant quantity.   We are just now coming to a time when law firms might have a significant amount of electronic records in addition to paper files.  Certainly word processing and email have been around for more than 15 years, but in the early years the only thing that was kept was the paper.  Personally, my viewpoint is that the electronic versions (word documents, email, images, faxes, collaboration tools, instant messaging, etc.) of documents are the real, original documents. The paper versions are just a physical manifestation of those records. (Source: Slaw) Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:49:56 +0100 852297 http://opaltraining.blogspot.com/2010/06/whats-new-9-june-2010.html Top tools to create digital books Mixbook http://www.mixbook.com  The best site for creating a book to either share with others digitally or order in the form of hard copy. Also, educators can create student accounts for better management.1.      BookRix http://www.bookrix.com/  One of the best sites for advertising your digital book; very user-friendly, and a nice free social environment.2.      Book Builder http://bookbuilder.cast.org/  Use this site to create, share, publish, and read digital books that engage and support diverse learners according to their individual needs, interests, and skills.3.      PDF Flash http://www.pdfflash.com/  Upload a PDF to create a professional-looking free Flash-based digital book.4.      MyPublisher http://mypublisher.com/products/classic  Free software that allows users to create colourful photo or digital books.5.      Tabblo http://tabblo.com/studio  Create a user account to make digital books with photos.6.      SmileBooks http://www.smilebooks.com/  Create beautiful storybooks online or download their software to store on your hard drive.7.      Blurb http://www.blurb.com/  Site for making photo books to order.  What is Web 3.0? Web 3.0 from Kate Ray on Vimeo.“Burst the bounds of any physical library.”http://vimeo.com/11529540 Overdrive app for iPhoneOverdrive finally launched its app for the iPhone and it‘s free.  Overdrive already has apps for Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile. ... Wed, 09 Jun 2010 04:00:00 +0100 851162 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/05/sue-arnold-audiobook-reviews Sue Arnold's audiobook choiceThe Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, written and read by Philip Pullman (3½hrs unabridged, Canongate, £16.99)If you've read His Dark Materials, Pullman's action-packed trilogy about alternate worlds, witchcraft, armoured bears and the powers of darkness (and if you haven't you should, but make sure it's the original unabridged BBC version read by the author), you won't need reminding that he's a brilliant storyteller. True to form, his version of the gospels has credulous Mary being impregnated by a local lad posing as a divine messenger and later giving birth to twins, Jesus and his sickly younger brother, Christ. Jesus is totally straightforward. He knows he's the son of God but he doesn't do celebrity or miracles to make his point. When his disciples tell him that 5,000 people need feeding, he says, don't worry – he's got some bread, and people always have some dried fish or a few raisins in their pockets. And he's right. Christ, on the other hand, is complex, tormented, scheming. While he recognises his brother's divine mission, he knows that without a few flashy crowd-pulling signs and wonders – throwing yourself off a crag in the wilderness, say, on to the rocks below and surviving – the public won't buy it. He's right, too, of course. Ever well-intentioned, Christ assumes the Judas role, betrays his big brother, fixes the resurrection, tweaks the historical record he has been keeping of Jesus's life for a mysterious stranger, and then goes home and settles down to married life. Clever and thought-provoking – but give me Serafina Pekkala every time.Mark's Gospel, read by Peter Wickham (2hrs unabridged, St Mark's Press, £12.99)This is the real thing, untweaked, written circa AD65 by a close friend of St Peter, Jesus's key disciple. ... Fri, 04 Jun 2010 23:05:54 +0100 849715 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LibrariansMatter/~3/BWaxvXGRQUY/ A library’s role is not to supress ideas – not matter how dangerous or loony I may believe those ideas to be, nor how wrong I think they are. That is why I support the State Library of Western Australia’s decision to provide a venue for a talk from people of the Anti-Vaccination Network on Tuesday 1 June. I do not agree with the claim on the Sceptic’s Book of Pooh Pooh that the State Library CEO, Margaret Allen was putting the health of WA children at further risk.. I think they are shooting the messenger. My tiny, fragile baby boy stopped breathing for over a minute as I was breastfeeding him on the day I took him home from hospital. We had waited for three weeks to take him home after he was born 2 months premature, so it was a huge shock to hear from the doctors that they suspected that he had whooping cough. Tiny babies with whooping cough don’t cough, just turn blue and stop breathing. After a couple more months in hospital we took him home, but that experience clarified for me – vaccinating our children is a community issue. When a parent decides not to vaccinate they are not making a choice just for their own kids, but for mine as well. There is overwhelming good science supporting the health benefits of vaccination and I think it is a selfish and shallow to not vaccinate. I have many other personal beliefs. I choose a mainly vegetarian diet for my own health and the health of the planet. I do not believe in an afterlife. I think depictions of violence that permeate our popular culture desensitizes people and begets more violence. I think that anyone who eats beetroot is slightly addled. When I go to work as a librarian, those beliefs come with me – however a key part of my job is providing access to ideas that are in direct conflict to what I believe is right for myself and for my society. ... Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:00:22 +0100 850242 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pandia/vfbc/~3/Sts_RfMde10/2929-using-encrypted-google-search.html If you want to test Google’s new encrypted search, go to https://www.google.com instead of the regular http://www.google.com (note the “s” in https). You will see the familiar Google home page logo with SSL at the top. Google notes that SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a protocol that helps provide secure Internet communications for services like web browsing, e-mail, instant messaging, and other data transfers. When you search over SSL, your search queries and search traffic are encrypted so they can’t be read by employers and internet service providers. Google SSL also turns off the referrer information in your browser, meaning you provide less information to the destination site you visit. The site you go to cannot see the search engine query you used at Google to find them (unless they are using cookies to track this information). Google SSL may be a little slower than the regular search. It does not support map and image search yet. A World of Friends! SMX East: NYC Oct 5-7 Click Here for Agenda! (Source: Pandia Search Engine News) Sun, 30 May 2010 12:59:39 +0100 849060 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/29/iain-sinclair-richard-mabey-rereading In the early 1970s, Richard Mabey walked around London and its suburbs, charting the 'unofficial countryside'. Iain Sinclair salutes a groundbreaking studyThis is a beautiful title, The Unofficial Countryside. And it was timely and pertinent, too, back in 1973. How did I miss, first time around, book that linked, at a single stroke, burgeoning bureaucracy and the threatened pastoral of whatever lay beyond the city's horizon? Richard Mabey identified so neatly the transitional quality of unwritten places where slightly bemused survivors of the 60s, pocketing their battered copies of Food for Free, found themselves labouring at the dawn of a harsher era.Prompted by 8mm film diaries, I remember the bright moments of my rock-bottom employment, loading and unloading containers by the railway yards in Stratford East in the early 70s. The site is presently occupied by the emerging Westfield supermall, the only confirmed legacy of the 2012 Olympics. Leaking warehouses, which had been stacked with the cargoes of the world, in an attempt to circumvent the restrictive practices of the dying docks, the power of the dockers' unions, were known to the workforce as Chobham Farm. Chobham Farm, Angel Lane. When Angel Cottage, a rustic gem festooned in creepers and blooms, disappeared overnight as part of the great redevelopment package, I cried out, in my ignorance, for a small portion of the precision and lightly worn scholarship with which The Unofficial Countryside had been mapped. Without a proper accounting of loss, these acts are final: not a scratch on our consciousness when the listed building is replaced by a loud nothing, protected by a corrugated fence and a battery of surveillance cameras. No record has been left behind of our shame in failing to resist. And no memorial, in Mabey's direct and effective prose, to the processes of weather, the complex entanglements of predatory humans and indifferent nature. ... Fri, 28 May 2010 23:06:33 +0100 847835 http://sites.menashalibrary.org/2010/05/28/library-productivity-with-the-ipad/ Image via Wikipedia I have loved my iPad since it first came out of the intricate Apple box and wrapper.  I use it every day for so many things.  It does a lot very well, including movies through Netflix, games and weather.  But I’d like to focus on what I use it for at work.  First, a caveat.  I am not suggesting that an iPad can replace your desktop or laptop. It can’t.  But it can make things easier at times. I especially like using my iPad at meetings and conferences.  It fits on my lap, doesn’t give off any heat, and lets me sit in a variety of postures unlike my laptop.  I can type with one hand, two hands, two thumbs.  Let’s talk apps.  These are the ones I use for library-related work: WordPress – this blogging app allows me to easily blog directly from a conference.  It does have limitations.  One concern is how limited it is for image integration, but for typing up conference notes, it works just fine.  The keyboard is more easy to use than one might think.  I compare the typing style to high-kicking because you can’t rest your fingers on the keys or it types.  It’s much more about floating above than other keyboards. FeeddlerRSS – I use this app to keep up with my RSS feeds.  It synchs with Google Reader and marks things read there as you read them.  You can share articles via email with one click, making it very functional. AIM – Connect to AOL Instant Messenger via your iPad.  This is the IM client we use at the library, so I just use this one on my iPad.  Other IM clients are available as well.  Strangely, my AIM continues to run in the background after I visit it and will alert me to any messages I receive even when I am in another app.  TweetDeck – I use this client on my desktop already, so it was natural to turn to it as an app. ... Fri, 28 May 2010 04:00:00 +0100 848150 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ouseful/~3/bUiPC7OBJYA/ The last few weeks have just seemed crazy to me – lots of events, new folk to meet, some incredibly stimulating conversations and a seemingly incessant flow of announcements that might actually mean something coming in over the interwebs. Picking up email as I was leaving the OU last night, I spotted an invite to today’s launch of a reversioned BBC iPLayer. I couldn’t make it down/up to London today, but the press release, #iplayer twitter coverage, live blogs and BBC blogs [UPDATE: another here], as well as the thing itself – http://beta.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/ (or in mobile form, http://beta.bbc.co.uk/mobile/iplayer/) kept me more than entertained. One thing that’s kept coming to mind over this period has been the changing nature of TV viewing. Considering my own TV viewing through the main “living room screen”, it’s now split pretty much into thirds: one third live TV from the four analogue terrestrial channels we can receive (BBC1, BBC2, ITV1, Channel4); one third DVD box sets; one third iPLayer on Nintendo Wii, (which personally is to say: BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4 and BBC Parliament). NB my iPlayer on the Wii viewing tends not to be between 8pm and 9.15pm when for whatever reason buffering and dropouts disrupt viewing to such an extent that programmes are pretty much unwatchable. maybe it’s a local bandwidth problem, or maybe it’s a BBC problem…? [Source: BBC iStats] (Thinking back a couple of years, the split used to be split 2/5 live TV, 2/5 HDD recordings, 1/5 video; but then the HDD broke and I replaced it with a cheap one with such an unusable interface we never bother with it anymore, except as a DVD player.) I think it would be safe to say that if 4oD or the ITV Player were available on the Wii, we’d watch ITV and Channel 4 content on it… Same for Channel 5 (maybe?!). ... Wed, 26 May 2010 11:02:05 +0100 848353 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/_tcssQdXUmA/ While many libraries, both public and academic, have implemented digital resources for their patrons in bits and pieces, I would argue that now is the time for libraries to work on putting together a comprehensive digital branch approach, offering millions of books, millions of newspapers and magazines, and open acess 24/7.   Given the facts of mass digitization of titles, free-to-use API’s,  and social sharing of resources, the digital library branch is a reality that can be implemented.  Here’s how…. Every library needs a place to start, so our digital branch will be created on a branch of the current library web site or freely created with resources such as Google Sites or Weebly.  Using graphics from the main library site or recreating them from open-source, public domain photos and artwork, it would take only a short time to get going. Secondly, we’ll need resources.  Since our branch is geared towards eReaders such as you and I,  let’s incorporate the top three sites to get started on our book resources: Google Books The Internet Archive Hathi Trust Rounding out the top three resources, we could also implement the ManyBooks catalog, Feedbooks catalog and others.  Highlighting these selections, we bring in additional illustrations and book covers through the use of the Google Book Bar and embed options from the Internet Archive.  If our digital collections have a special focus, then inserting the actual titles in our site through Google Books could help bring to attention special collections such as science fair, genealogy and/or gov. document titles. But our library is more than historical fiction and bestsellers, we should also implement newspaper and magazine resources.  First up for this would be the Google News Archive.  While the resources are small, there are lots of ways to incorporate this into our branch. ... Mon, 24 May 2010 16:26:39 +0100 846628 http://outofthejungle.blogspot.com/2010/05/new-directions-at-harvard.html It's been a tough year for library budgets. I don't know of any library whose acquisitions budget has kept pace with the inflation in the cost of materials, both print and digital. The budgetary situation has led to my announcing a new policy--we add no new Thomson Reuters titles in print because of what I consider to be the outrageous costs of supplementation, barring exceptional circumstances. Actually, my library is relatively lucky--we have had no layoffs--and are able to replace staff members who leave. The glass really is half full.This is why I was interested to read an today's Boston Globe an article about Harvard University Library's recent actions to deal with "an unprecedented budget crunch." I always thought of the Harvard libraries as having nearly unlimited resources; this was probably never the case, but it certainly isn't true today. "...[T]he days of accumulating every important title and artifact under the scholarly sun are over for Harvard's labyrinthine system of 73 libraries." How is Harvard dealing with its budget problems? By emphasizing access to information over ownership, as many libraries with fewer resources have already chosen to do. Harvard has cancelled over 1,000 journals in favor of their online equivalents, and it is working actively to "collaborate and share acquisitions" with other university library systems. Harvard has already forged an arrangement with MIT which allows students access to both schools' collections, and it may join a library consortium for the first time. I was struck by Harvard's high-quality service to students, who can "sit in their dorms and order books directly from their computers to be delivered within 24 hours to the library of their choice from the Harvard Depository, a high-density storage facility ..." Sometimes the materials that are needed can be downloaded by students "or the library will scan relevant book chapters and e-mail them. ... Mon, 24 May 2010 04:00:00 +0100 846828 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/23/jackie-kay-memoir-red-dust-extract Her beloved adoptive parents in Scotland raised her with wonderful tales about who her black birth father might be. Would the truth be so exciting? In this exclusive extract from her poignant, funny memoir, she sets off for Nigeria, aged 42, to meet him for the first timeMy mum and dad met in Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand, though my mum comes from Lochgelly in Fife, and my dad from Townhead in Glasgow. I've often wondered if they would ever have met had they not both ended up on the other side of the world, in the southern hemisphere, enticed by the completely free fare, in the days when Australia and New Zealand were determined to increase their working population, and by the adventure of the journey. They met in 1952 in a place called the Coffee Pot, where my mum had a waitressing job. "I think he liked me because I gave him big portions. Isn't that right, John? Then he asked me out on our first date."They married on the day after April Fool's Day in 1954. My mum joined the Communist party in New Zealand at the same time as my dad. She liked pointing out that her Maori friend Tam took them to their first meeting. Years later, back in Scotland, my dad gave up his work as a draughtsman in 1965 and started working as the Glasgow secretary for the party. "We'd have been a lot better off if he'd stuck to being a draughtsman and not worked full time for the party. Still, he had to follow his passion."My mum and dad returned to Scotland after spending their first years of married life in New Zealand. By this time they desperately wanted children. They tried and tried but had no luck. This was in the days before IVF. They had tests done and still no luck. Eventually, it was my dad who suggested they might try adoption. It took ages before they found an adoption agency that would accept them despite their politics. In those days, the late 1950s, adoption agencies were mostly run by religious organisations. ... Sat, 22 May 2010 23:01:06 +0100 846254 http://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/2010/05/cilip-in-2020.html What should CILIP be, and where in 2020? This is another of my thought pieces, which is basically a stream of thought, so it doesn’t have a great structure to it, but it’s heartfelt, which I hope will be sufficient to overcome the other deficiencies of the piece. It’s an attempt to add to the conversation, so I’ve tried to be fairly wide reaching with it. Comments are most welcome. CILIP needs to be an integral part of every librarian’s day to day work. I would like to see a situation where CILIP acts more as an aggregator of data. I’d like to wake up in the morning, go to my machine or have my mobile device alert me to all of the interesting things that CILIP has found for me overnight, so that I can then sift through them as appropriate. I would like to be able to use CILIP as a conduit, putting everything into one place for me, assessing data, making links to other resources and displaying it for me in useful ways. I want CILIP to think, so I don’t have to! Of course, I can do a lot of this myself now – it’s a matter of a few seconds to create a Netvibes page (and I’m delighted to see that CILIP has), or to drag data from different RSS feeds into one resource for me, but I’d rather someone else was able to do that. I could then just bolt on any extras as needed. I’m hoping that CILIP is going to be encouraging every possible member of staff to become actively involved in the information industry, and not just a few carefully chosen people. I’d like to see CILIP as the hub, encouraging staff to write about what they are doing, using bookmarking software, creating guided tours of online resources. I want to see every single person actively engaged and interacting with information and with members. I want a CILIP which encourages people to try things out. This experimentation needs to start with the organization itself. ... Thu, 20 May 2010 04:00:00 +0100 845553 http://digital-scholarship.com/digitalkoans/2010/05/19/emerging-technologies-librarian-at-the-college-of-new-jersey/ The College of New Jersey Library is recruiting an Emerging Technologies Librarian. Here's an excerpt from the ad: Emerging Technologies: Identify, evaluate, and implement the application of current and emerging technologies for use in the Library's reference and instruction services, such as instant messaging, social networking, content management systems, mobile computing, open source, open content, and other digital capabilities. Working with the Systems Librarian, support the Library's web initiatives using the most up-to-date web design and web applications technology. Collaborate with other librarians to develop and test new instruction and information support tools. Share with Library colleagues strategies, techniques, and best practices for using emerging technologies to support teaching and learning. Promote and support usability testing and assessment of new and existing services. Related Posts Systems & Emerging Technologies Librarian at Mount Aloysius College Emerging Technologies Librarian at University of California, Berkeley Knowledge Integration & Emerging Technologies Librarian at Penn State Hershey Emerging Technologies Librarian at Lincoln Memorial University Emerging Technologies Librarian at John Marshall Law School (Source: DigitalKoans) Thu, 20 May 2010 03:04:59 +0100 846323 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/DigitalKoans/~3/lVWcnY-s3Kg/ The College of New Jersey Library is recruiting an Emerging Technologies Librarian. Here's an excerpt from the ad: Emerging Technologies: Identify, evaluate, and implement the application of current and emerging technologies for use in the Library's reference and instruction services, such as instant messaging, social networking, content management systems, mobile computing, open source, open content, and other digital capabilities. Working with the Systems Librarian, support the Library's web initiatives using the most up-to-date web design and web applications technology. Collaborate with other librarians to develop and test new instruction and information support tools. Share with Library colleagues strategies, techniques, and best practices for using emerging technologies to support teaching and learning. Promote and support usability testing and assessment of new and existing services. Related Posts Systems & Emerging Technologies Librarian at Mount Aloysius College Emerging Technologies Librarian at University of California, Berkeley Knowledge Integration & Emerging Technologies Librarian at Penn State Hershey Emerging Technologies Librarian at Lincoln Memorial University (Source: DigitalKoans) Thu, 20 May 2010 03:04:08 +0100 846362 http://blog.njla.org/archives/2010/05/#000824 By The Messenger-Gazette May 17, 2010, 9:29AM SOMERVILLE — The Library Review Task Force has been charged with examining whether Somerville should join the county library system. The group, made up of library board members, borough officials and residents, was formed at the beginning of the year. It has been exploring possible savings to the borough with joining the county and the impact on library services that residents receive. The task force will ultimately make a report to Borough Council, but before that it’s looking for input from Somerville residents. On June 1, the task force will be accepting comments from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the library’s Main Reading Room located at 35 West End Ave., Somerville. If you would like to submit written comments, please do so prior to June 1 and address them to Kevin Sluka, Borough Administrator, 25 West End Ave., Somerville, N.J. 08876. What do you think are the benefits of the Somerville library switching to the county system? What are your concerns? Answer in the comments section below. (Source: NJLA Blog -- The Official Weblog of the New Jersey Library Association) Wed, 19 May 2010 04:00:00 +0100 845804 http://noggs.typepad.com/the_reading_experience/2010/05/news-of-the-poetry-world.html     The Poetry Foundation's Harriet blog recently announced it is abandoning the "discussion model" to provide instead "a daily news feed with links and excerpts from other outlets around the world." This means that the site will no longer feature blog posts from a selected group of poets "discussing" poetry but will become like every other digest blog offering "news."     The PF is making this move because "The blog as a form has begun to be overtaken by social media like Twitter and Facebook.  News of the poetry world now travels fastest and furthest through Twitter. . .with the information often picked up from news aggregator sites rather than discursive blogs." Further, . . .anyone involved in the more dynamic discussions of poetry, poetics, or politics in the past year knows that more and more of the most vibrant interactions have been found on Facebook.  We saw this happening last month as our National Poetry Month posts traveled far and wide through various status updates, wall postings, and links.     I always thought the "discussion model" used at Harriet was a little too chatty, too often short on extended analysis, but nevertheless I checked in on the blog several times a week and usually found some posts on the practice and reading of poetry that were well worth my time. I can with some certainty say I will never look at the site again, as it now gives in to the preoccupation with the "fastest and furthest" that characterizes too much of the blogosphere. "News of the poetry world" will replace the consideration of actual poetry. ... Wed, 19 May 2010 04:00:00 +0100 845306 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/05/18/u-washington-study-google-flu-trends-estimates-off/ This announcement is worth reading through to the conclusion as if once again illustrates why info literacy and digital info skills are so important. From the Announcement: Google Flu Trends is not as accurate at estimating rates of laboratory-confirmed influenza as CDC national surveillance programs, according to a new study from the University of Washington. The findings will be reported at the ATS 2010 International Conference in New Orleans. “We knew from the Google Flu Trends validation study that it is highly correlated with surveillance for the non-specific syndrome of influenza-like illness,” said Justin Ortiz, M.D., clinical fellow at the University of Washington who led the study. “However, it has never been evaluated against a gold standard of actual laboratory tests positive for influenza virus infection. When we compared Google Flu Trends data to CDC’s national surveillance for influenza laboratory tests positive, we found that Google Flu Trends was 25 percent less accurate at estimating rates of laboratory confirmed influenza virus infection.” Google Flu Trends uses the popularity of certain Google search queries in real time to estimate nationwide rates of influenza-like illness activity, a non-specific combination of symptoms including a fever with either a cough or a sore throat without any confirmatory laboratory testing. While some traditional flu surveillance systems may take days or weeks to collect and release data, Google search queries can be counted almost instantaneously. The problem is that studies have shown that influenza-like illnesses are actually caused by the influenza virus in only 20 percent to 70 percent of cases during the influenza season. [Snip] “Internet search behavior is likely different during anomalous seasons such as during 2003-4,” explained Dr. Ortiz. ... Tue, 18 May 2010 16:26:10 +0100 845151 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GoblinCartoons/~3/_GI0mN6fiFc/ I just deleted my Facebook account. Why? In part it’s because of my concerns over Facebook’s frequent changing of the goalposts when it comes to privacy. But even more, it’s Facebook’s growth as an all-purpose internet site. To my mind, Facebook is trying to be AOL 2.0–a site that provides you with email, IM, image hosting, blogging, games, etc. I don’t want the internet centralized. I don’t want a one-stop-shop for all things internet. I don’t want One Site to Rule Them All. And I really don’t want the internet simplifed and dumbed down for people. I want people to smart-up for the internet. I want people to learn to use email and instant messaging through the numerous apps and tools available. I want people to learn to use a blogging platform. I want people to learn to use RSS. None of these things are really all that difficult, and outside of Facebook, you can control your privacy a lot more. If you want to follow my exploits and read my rambling thoughts, read this blog and follow me on Twitter or FriendFeed. If you want to see my photos, check me out on Flickr. If you want to talk to me, email or IM me. But don’t look for me on Facebook, because I won’t be there anymore. (Source: the goblin in the library) Wed, 12 May 2010 23:11:15 +0100 843647 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TameTheWeb/~3/i0UQ1ApoxAQ/ A brief post based on my notes for a short speech this week at Dominican GSLIS New Student Orientation and some reflection on the 55 students who graduated from our program last Saturday: Ranganathan said “the Library is a growing organism.” That evolution continues and you all are starting your graduate library school journey at a perfect time. I was recently in South Carolina, where I found myself in the hotel bar after a speech for the library school. The bartender was fired up about his brand new iPod Touch. He was running the bar’s music of of it via a cable attached to the sound system, and surfing the Web via the hotel’s wifi. He praised the access to the Web and his apps and held up the shiny new device and said: ” I have the whole world of information in my hand.” This is the landscape our new students and graduating students are experiencing.  For many – not all, of course – but for many, this ultra-connected world is the norm and new  devices and services enhance it almost daily. One of my goals as an LIS educator is to prepare my students for a decidedly digital future in libraries. Technology will touch every aspect of library service and operation is some way – big or small – from storytime to book clubs, from research collections to media production studios within the library. Technology allows us to extend the presence of library service and librarians in ways that Ranganathan and Shera might have only dreamed about. But the most important thing is these technologies allow us to extend our missions of service, stewardship and access in surprisingly human channel.  When technology falls away, it’s not a blog, or a Meebo-embedded staffer, or a Drupal reader’s community, it’s simply a group of people having a conversation. For our new students – I wish you great success and urge you to be curious and creative with your coursework. ... Wed, 12 May 2010 16:41:20 +0100 843507 http://www.slis.indiana.edu/careers/view_job_specific.php?job_id=7296 State: New Jersey The Library at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) invites applications for a 12-month, tenure-track Emerging Technologies Librarian. The successful candidate will be responsible for effective librarianship, scholarship, and service. Specific responsibilities will include: Emerging Technologies: Identify, evaluate, and implement the application of current and emerging technologies for use in the Library's reference and instruction services, such as instant messaging, social networking, content management systems, mobile computing, open source, open content, and other digital capabilities. Working with the Systems Librarian, support the Library's web initiatives using the most up-to-date web design and web applications technology. Collaborate with other librarians to develop and test new instruction and information support tools. Share with Library colleagues strategies, techniques, and best practices for using emerging technologies to support teaching and learning. Promote and support usability testing and assessment of new and existing services. Additional Responsibilities: Provide liaison services to the Interactive Multimedia Program and possibly other departments or programs depending upon library needs and applicant's interests and experience. Provide general reference and Library instruction. Plan and carry out a sustained and respectable body of scholarship as outlined in the Library Disciplinary Standards. Serve on Library and institutional committees. Qualifications: Required: Masters degree accredited by the American Library Association and awarded by the time of appointment. Working knowledge of the principles and practices of web design and development, including applications and scripting languages such as Dreamweaver, Flash, CSS, Javascript and PHP. Working knowledge of other library-related technologies, such as streaming media and digitization, and current programming languages such as XML and SQL. ... Wed, 12 May 2010 02:20:03 +0100 843263 http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/05/11/online-tools-your-library-needs-now-and-why/ I’ve been meaning to post this link to a great post from Scott Douglas at his blog Speaking Quietly: Ramblings About Libraries, Writing, and Everything in Between. Virtually Yours: Online Tools Your Library Needs Now and Why The eight basic reference tools every library should have are: 1. Text a librarian 2. Facebook 3. YouTube 4. iPhone App 5. Meebo 6. Blogger 7. Flickr 8. Twitter Read the post for justifications and costs. And some other suggestions are in the comments. Stephen (Source: Stephen) Tue, 11 May 2010 12:21:06 +0100 843077 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/davidleeking/~3/sVIdlyCB2Z0/ Last week, Dan at Rocket.ly posted Top Ten Reasons you Should Quit Facebook , in light of Facebook’s latest changes. His post makes some good points – definitely stuff to think about. Yesterday, however, I started seeing people I know tweeting the link to Dan’s article, and saying “I might delete my account too.” Again – all fine and good, but that made me think: what about your organization’s Facebook Page? Will they delete that, too? I’m not sure deleting your Profile or Page is the answer. So, I tweeted “come on people – why should you NOT quit facebook?” and received some excellent replies back. With that question in mind, and with some of the great answers tweeted back by some of YOU, I give you … 10 Reasons to NOT Quit Faceook (at least, not yet): Your customers are using Facebook. Librarians – walk around your library and see what people are doing. I’m guessing you’ll see lots of Facebook users. Maybe you should still be one, too. Your community is on Facebook. Quick, go to Facebook and do a search for your city. Narrow the search down to People. Most likely, down at the bottom of that search results page, it says “Over 500 results.” That means you just maxed out your search. Lots of people in your community use Facebook. In fact, Edison Research just released a report showing that 41% of Americans use Facebook. Translation – that’s 41% of your community. That you can reach. For free. Did I mention free marketing? Zbriceno says “… Keep FB ’cause all types of contact, events, photos, discussion posts, WORLDCAT book searching; one stop shop!” Your organization’s Facebook Page includes status updates, event calendars, comments, discussion boards, videos, pictures, instant messaging and private messaging. ... Tue, 04 May 2010 11:59:33 +0100 841454 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/05/03/why-twitter-is-the-future-of-news-or-is-it/ Why Twitter Is the Future of News by Christopher Mims (via Technology Review) Note: If you read/skim/scroll through to the conclusion of this post, we’ve included a summary of the Why Twitter is the Future… article. We think the title of this story would be more accurate if it said, “Why Twitter is the Future of News Dissemination.” (and we’re not so sure about that either). While the feud (is that what you call it?) between Demi Moore and Kim Kardashian took place over Twitter and quickly spread what about more, dare we say, important stories that required more than 140 characters? In other words, where is the content going to come from? Will investigative reporting be put to sleep? So, is Twitter a tool to quickly disseminate “news bits,” “news links,” etc. ? Perhaps. But for major news stories, human interest pieces, analysis, etc. the mainstream press and top-rated blogs still have a place, at least for now. Twitter is the “wire service” that can disseminate the info in a very rapid manner if follow a lot of people and a lot of people follow you and then take the time to retweet the past. Of course, it’s likely that people will also find a way around rules and regulations and be able to manipulate tweets. Of course, this is no different than what some can do with organic search results. Finally, not if but when will Twitter see competition from other services? Would a network of news sources including the most read blogs get together to form such a service? While many have a revenue stream (true, it’s getting smaller), Twitter has not made much money (any?) to this point. Granted, the potential is rather large the way things look today. But things change. Btw, in the past few weeks, advertising (pay-per-click advertising) has started at Twitter. ... Tue, 04 May 2010 00:39:24 +0100 841056 http://hurstassociates.blogspot.com/2010/05/new-and-improved.html After a long journey and the assistance of Josh Shear, I've updated the format of my web site and blogs (Digitization 101 and eNetworking 101).  For the first time, everything has a consistent look and feel, and everything is integrated together!  One of thing you'll find everywhere on the site now is a Meebo "window" that will allow you to communicate in real time with me, if I'm online.  I've been using a MeeboMe widget for years and am glad to finally have it all over the place.  So if you have a quick question or comment, your can chat with me rather than sending email.You'll also notice links to many of the places that I hang out online like Twitter.  You can use these to find out more about me or to make a connection with me.  (The only caveat is that I truly use LinkedIn to connect with professionals whom I know.)By the way, early on in the process, Josh asked me to name five web sites that I admired (in function or look) and why.  If you or your organization are going to update your web site, I would encourage you to answer that question for yourself.  Yes, it is okay to like very different web sites. What is important to the designer is know what you like and find important, especially since we all "know it when we see it". Finally, I've heard of organizations that are going to take multiple years to update their web sites.  Really?  Our expectations of online environments are constantly changing.  If you're web site is not matching you needs (let alone your users' needs), you can't take years to change it.  It has to change now and then you have to be committed to continually updating it in order to continually match your users' needs.  If you plan a new web site this year, but don't implement it for two years, it will already be out of date. ... Mon, 03 May 2010 04:00:00 +0100 840916 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Digitization101/~3/8GSHrvLXmqw/new-and-improved.html After a long journey and the assistance of Josh Shear, I've updated the format of my web site and blogs (Digitization 101 and eNetworking 101).  For the first time, everything has a consistent look and feel, and everything is integrated together!  One of thing you'll find everywhere on the site now is a Meebo "window" that will allow you to communicate in real time with me, if I'm online.  I've been using a MeeboMe widget for years and am glad to finally have it all over the place.  So if you have a quick question or comment, your can chat with me rather than sending email.You'll also notice links to many of the places that I hang out online like Twitter.  You can use these to find out more about me or to make a connection with me.  (The only caveat is that I truly use LinkedIn to connect with professionals whom I know.)By the way, early on in the process, Josh asked me to name five web sites that I admired (in function or look) and why.  If you or your organization are going to update your web site, I would encourage you to answer that question for yourself.  Yes, it is okay to like very different web sites. What is important to the designer is know what you like and find important, especially since we all "know it when we see it". Finally, I've heard of organizations that are going to take multiple years to update their web sites.  Really?  Our expectations of online environments are constantly changing.  If you're web site is not matching you needs (let alone your users' needs), you can't take years to change it.  It has to change now and then you have to be committed to continually updating it in order to continually match your users' needs.  If you plan a new web site this year, but don't implement it for two years, it will already be out of date. ... Mon, 03 May 2010 04:00:00 +0100 840798 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pandia/vfbc/~3/pIj7P8znryc/2770-pandia-search-engine-news-wrap-up-may-2.html Here are the major search engine news headlines of the week: Data collected by Google cars Google European Policy Blog: We collect the following information–photos, local WiFi network data and 3-D building imagery. (Apr 27 2010) Twitter snaps up Cloudhopper to become king of SMS Twitter planning text takeover? (techradar Apr 2010) Macroglossa’s Visual Search Engine fails to meet basic expectations Take a picture you can’t really make out the content of. Upload it to the website and launch your search. (SE Watch Apr 26 2010) Google brings 3D Earth view to the web One step closer to that 3D browsing experience (techradar Apr 2010) Google’s Ranking Algorithm Goes Social Mike Moran: These secondary signals will largely come from the largest social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook , Digg, and Delicious. (Apr 28 2010) Microsoft unveils new Messenger service Intros tabbed conversations and HD video calling (techradar Apr 2010) Google To Phase Out Old Keyword Tool In Exchange For New Version The new external keyword tool is still available to any user (SE Land Apr 28 2010) Google’s Frederick Vallaeys Interviewed by Eric Enge Frederick Vallaeys is a Product Evangelist for Google AdWords. ... Sun, 02 May 2010 14:04:51 +0100 841423 http://liszen.com/trends/story.php?title=Troy_Messenger__Troy_Public_Library_summer_reading_registration_--- Sign up begins on Monday, May 3 for all ages. Space is limited so those who want to participate are urged to "make waves" and get to the library earl (Source: pligg - all) Sun, 02 May 2010 07:00:19 +0100 840606 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/05/01/column-libraries-must-find-new-ways-to-stay-relevant/ A new column by Bill Maxwell in the St. Petersburg Times The column begins with some stats from the recent ITHAKA S+R Faculty Survey and then includes some comments by Carol Hixson, dean of the University of South Florida Nelson Poynter Memorial Library in St. Petersburg. Hixson Says: “They must provide them the means of making that content available over time through trusted digital archives that adhere to international standards, promote long-term access, and enable broader discovery. They must help them publish their work through institutional repositories and other means; they must help them navigate the increasingly complex world of intellectual property in the digital era.” To remain viable, she said, libraries will have to go beyond their traditional roles of merely providing reference, circulation and interlibrary loan services. “We have to get out to where our users are and provide services in new ways, whether that be texting, instant messaging, e-mail, on-site services in academic units or in spaces where students congregate. We will have to help faculty research and write grants and develop curricula that make good use of information resources. Sometimes, we will have to co-teach. The types of services will vary from campus to campus and will be dependent on the resources available.” Access the Complete Column Source: St. Peterburg Times (Source: ResourceShelf) Sun, 02 May 2010 01:17:27 +0100 840462 http://www.teleread.org/2010/05/01/60000-ebooks-in-the-ibooks-store-46000-imprecise-oreilly-radar-post-could-brew-a-tempest/ How many books are there in the iPad’s iBooks Store? How many of them are free? And is the total number growing or declining? I’m not sure how many ebooks there are, but for now at least, there’s more than one story. It has been widely reported, since late March, that the iBooks Store would open, and did open, with a total catalog of about 60,000 books, of which about half (30,000) are free listings from Project Gutenberg. This has been the story from Apple’s friends at Gizmodo, reported here: The official Apple way to get ebooks for the iPad, the iBooks store has just 60,000 books in it for now, all in the ePub format. That 60,000 number has been reported elsewhere by ZDnet, the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, and the New York Times‘ David Pogue, to name a few. And of course, it’s important. For some of us, the potential of the iBooks Store and other iPad reading apps like the Kindle, Stanza, AudioBooks, and Kobo Books have been a major influence in our decision to buy an iPad. Then along comes an O’Reilly Radar blog post Thursday by Ben Lorica, a Senior Researcher in the Market Research Group at O’Reilly Media, Inc., to take away any confidence that I had in that 60,000 figure. Lorica provides a professional presentation with tables to break down the catalog in the iBooks Store by category or genre, publisher, and mean ebook price within top categories. It’s an interesting and graphically impressive chart. In addition to being posted on O’Reilly’s highly respected research website, it has been picked up by reputable sites like Teleread and discussed right here at iPad Nation Daily. After its initial statements about the number of books downloaded from the iBooks store during the first weekend in April, Apple has been uncharacteristically quiet lately about relevant catalog or sales numbers in its iBooks store. ... Sat, 01 May 2010 14:04:38 +0100 840507 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/teleread/KHnj/~3/T3mufkmjjTs/ How many books are there in the iPad’s iBooks Store? How many of them are free? And is the total number growing or declining? I’m not sure how many ebooks there are, but for now at least, there’s more than one story. It has been widely reported, since late March, that the iBooks Store would open, and did open, with a total catalog of about 60,000 books, of which about half (30,000) are free listings from Project Gutenberg. This has been the story from Apple’s friends at Gizmodo, reported here: The official Apple way to get ebooks for the iPad, the iBooks store has just 60,000 books in it for now, all in the ePub format. That 60,000 number has been reported elsewhere by ZDnet, the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, and the New York Times‘ David Pogue, to name a few. And of course, it’s important. For some of us, the potential of the iBooks Store and other iPad reading apps like the Kindle, Stanza, AudioBooks, and Kobo Books have been a major influence in our decision to buy an iPad. Then along comes an O’Reilly Radar blog post Thursday by Ben Lorica, a Senior Researcher in the Market Research Group at O’Reilly Media, Inc., to take away any confidence that I had in that 60,000 figure. Lorica provides a professional presentation with tables to break down the catalog in the iBooks Store by category or genre, publisher, and mean ebook price within top categories. It’s an interesting and graphically impressive chart. In addition to being posted on O’Reilly’s highly respected research website, it has been picked up by reputable sites like Teleread and discussed right here at iPad Nation Daily. After its initial statements about the number of books downloaded from the iBooks store during the first weekend in April, Apple has been uncharacteristically quiet lately about relevant catalog or sales numbers in its iBooks store. ... Sat, 01 May 2010 14:04:38 +0100 840455 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Librarianinblack/~3/ajlQ_k0QtOE/im.html Amazing facts and figures about instant messaging from the Royal Pingdom website.  How many users are on the various networks?  When did the different services come onto the market?  How many messages are sent daily? How many messages does each user send on average?  + a ton more.  Nice report! via resourceshelf (Source: LibrarianInBlack) Thu, 29 Apr 2010 00:33:09 +0100 840750 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SellersLibraryTeens/~3/rthJhq4OJu8/diy-craft-jeans-to-purse.html If you've worn through the knees on your favorite jeans, give them new life as a bag! You don't even have to know how to sew for some of these.Pocket PurseUse the back pockets of a pair of jeans to make a cute, small purse.Jean Leg PurseUse the legs to make a little purse with a braided strap.Booty BagThis roomy purse is made from the top of a pair of jeans!Booty Bag with Flap ClosureThis set of directions has great step-by-step pictures. To modify this into a messenger bag, just use men's jeans rather than your old low-rises and make a longer strap. (Source: Sellers Library Teens) Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:42:00 +0100 839649 http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/26/the-state-of-instant-messaging/ Instant Messaging is still hanging in there! AOL Isn’t The IM Leader By A Long Shot Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/aol-isnt-the-aim-leader-by-a-long-shot-2010-4?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider+%28Silicon+Alley+Insider%29#ixzz0mEOQTRoa Stephen (Source: Stephen) Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:13:45 +0100 839106 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LibrariansMatter/~3/bW9K7H0aypo/ First there was my rather tongue-in-cheek post in June 2008 about how DIY-anarcho-librarianship could be called Libpunk if those educators were going to start spouting off about Edupunk, Steampunk, Edupunk, Libpunk? .  I gave a list of examples of library folk doing it for themselves and not waiting to be handed tools or permission, and because I had to come up with something I defined Libpunk as: Librarians using non-proprietary products and groupings not based on institutional alliances to practice their craft and communicate their practice.  Open, collaborative enterprises based not on making money, but often on increasing social capital or extending knowledge Then Amy Buckland offered to make me a Libpunk sticker for my laptop, so the Libpunk Cafe Press store was born. I’ve seen a couple of the products in the wild, like Stephen Francouer in New York’s  messenger bag and Krista Godfrey in Canada’s  laptop ..which made me smile.. Ann Gambles in the UK riffed on Libpunk in a slideshare presentation she did just for fun, Libpunk0.01 . Then a mob of library school students were a bit excited about the whole idea and started a Libpunk wiki, but there is not a lot on it. And there is this Czech Libpunk wiki page that I have no idea about : ) The idea sat around in its dark shaded bedroom in an adolescent funk for a while, but it’s finding its voice again and morphing (yay!) with the new Libpunk Radio Show that started last week, the Libpunk Friendfeed room and the Libpunk Twitter account.  Sarah Glassmeyer and Kendra K are the energy behind the empowering and snotty upsurge, but they are not alone, with more people joining in during the last week. If you want to do some do-it-yourself definition of what Libpunk may be, go and enter the Libpunk Essay Competition on the Libpunk. ... Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:45:19 +0100 838984 http://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/04/24/teens-and-mobile-phones-2/ Thought you might be interested that we just released a report about how teens use their cell phones and how those phones have become the central communication hub of teens’ lives: Teens and Mobile Phones http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Teens-and-Mobile-Phones.aspx Among other things, the report and an underlying survey found that: Text messaging has become the most frequent way that teens reach their friends, surpassing face-to-face meetings, email, instant messaging and voice calling as a daily communications tool. The typical American teen sends and receives 50 or more messages per day, or 1,500 per month. And there are a sizeable number who do much more than that: 31% of teens send and receive more than 100 messages per day or more than 3,000 messages a month; 15% of teens who are texters send more than 200 texts a day, or more than 6,000 texts a month. · The report runs down a lot of details about the things that teens do with their phones besides texting and talking. For example: 83% use their phones to take pictures; 60% play music on their phones; 46% play games on their phones; 32% exchange videos on their phones; 27% go online for general purposes on their phones; 23% access social networking sites on their phones. Cell phones are not just about calling or texting – with expanding functionality, phones have become multimedia recording devices and pocket-sized internet connected computers. Among teen cell phone owners: Teens who have multi-purpose phones are avid users of those extra features. The most popular are taking and sharing pictures and playing music: 83% use their phones to take pictures. 64% share pictures with others. 60% play music on their phones. 46% play games on their phones. 32% exchange videos on their phones. 31% exchange instant messages on their phones. 27% go online for general purposes on their phones. 23% access social network sites on their phones. 21% use email on their phones. ... Sat, 24 Apr 2010 17:11:22 +0100 838438 http://bentleywg.livejournal.com/1311633.html from a customer review for a messenger bag:"...at first thought it was a no brainer swapping my old bag for a new one."But then it hit me… 10 years of memories…"I remember picking up my dog when she was a puppy and carrying her home in my bag."I remember when she got too large for the bag (now 65lbs) she would still try to climb inside occasionally. And she still loves to sleep with her head on it."I remember when my dog got stung by bees 6 miles from my truck and could not walk. I carried her in my arms until I could not anymore. Then I laid her on my bag and used it as a sled and dragged her back to that truck and to the vet (she fully recovered)."I remember camping with my wife (when she was my fiancé). I had her ring stashed in the inside zipper compartment where she would not find. I used that bag so it would not be weird would I did not want to leave it lying around. We were engaged later that night."I left the store with my old bag full of holes and full of memories…" (Source: BentleyBlog) Sat, 24 Apr 2010 13:00:32 +0100 838312 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/04/23/infographic-amazing-facts-and-figures-about-instant-messaging/ All sorts of facts, figures and even an timeline with IM history. Examples of What You’ll Find Includes: + Number of Users Per Network + Worldwide IM’s Per Day Worldwide (2009) + Instant Messages by Type (2009) and Many More. Access the Infographic About IM Source: Royal Pingdom (Source: ResourceShelf) Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:18:05 +0100 838146 http://mhclibrary.blogspot.com/2010/04/text-us-and-online-agent-im-hours-of.html With the move to Spring hours at the libraries (Brooks Campus and Vera Bracken), information services will change their hours to match. The Online Agents service (instant messaging) and text messaging services will now be operating for the following hours during the Spring semester:Monday-Friday: 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.Saturday: 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.Sunday: ClosedFor more information on the libraries' (Source: Medicine Hat College Library Services Blog) Fri, 23 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0100 839239 http://outofthejungle.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking.html There has been a lot of discussion at OOTJ and elsewhere about multitasking. Like many parents, I questioned my teenagers' ability to do homework while checking email, instant messaging, and watching television. I simply didn't understand how all tasks could be performed equally well. It turns out that there is a scientific basis for my concern. According to an article published recently in Science, the brain is configured to handle up to two tasks at a time, but no more. Click here for an abstract of the article; full text is available for a fee. The Science article was the subject of a piece that appeared on LiveScience.com, a website that reports on scientific and technological advances for laypeople. The research showed that when confronted with two tasks, the medial prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain that is colored green in the illustration) divides--half of the region focuses on one task, and half focuses on the other task. If a third task is added to the mix, the brain seems to "forget" one of the three tasks and returns to a binary sitation it is equipped to handle. The brain is simply not designed to perform accurately more than two tasks at once. (Source: Out of the Jungle) Wed, 21 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0100 837688 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/04/20/just-released-by-pew-internet-teens-and-mobile-phones-texting-continues-to-explode/ From the Overview (also Includes Methodology Info) by: Amanda Lenhart, Rich Ling, Scott Campbell, Kristen Purcell From the Summary: Daily text messaging among American teens has shot up in the past 18 months, from 38% of teens texting friends daily in February of 2008 to 54% of teens texting daily in September 2009. And it’s not just frequency – teens are sending enormous quantities of text messages a day. Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month. Older teen girls ages 14-17 lead the charge on text messaging, averaging 100 messages a day for the entire cohort. The youngest teen boys are the most resistant to texting – averaging 20 messages per day. Text messaging has become the primary way that teens reach their friends, surpassing face-to-face contact, email, instant messaging and voice calling as the go-to daily communication tool for this age group. However, voice calling is still the preferred mode for reaching parents for most teens. Access the Complete Report: HTML (View Online) ||| PDF Version (168 pages) The mobile phone has become the favored communication hub for the majority of American teens. (1) (1) Unless otherwise noted, all data in this report refers to cell phone-owning teens. The questions asked in this survey are also available. HTML (View Online) ||| PDF (20 pages) Also Available: September 2009 Teens and Mobile Phones Source: Internet & American Life Project (Source: ResourceShelf) Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:41:11 +0100 837176 http://www.slaw.ca/2010/04/20/better-productivity-for-lawyers-the-pomodoro-technique/ Like most office workers, lawyers and their support staff are increasingly struggling with information overload. Lawyering often requires deep thinking, thorough research and precise drafting, among other tasks. This time intensive work can easily get high jacked with constant distractions such as email, internet browsing, blog feeds, instant messaging, snail mail, meetings, phone calls and “twittering”. The amount of information we receive on a daily basis has grown dramatically, but the amount of control we have over that information seems to have decreased exponentially. The Pomodoro Technique may be a good filter from internal and external distractions to keep you focused on the task at hand. The Pomodoro Technique, a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo, breaks down periods of work into 25-minute intervals, separated by breaks. The Pomodoro Technique is named after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that was first used by its creator Francesco Cirillo when he was a university student (Pomodoro is Italian for tomato). The aim of the Pomodoro Technique is to use time as your ally rather than your enemy to more efficiently accomplish tasks. For each 25 minute interval, the goal is to focus on the task at hand while avoiding internal and external distractions as much as possible. You need a timer, paper and a pencil to get started. The basic steps are: 1. Create a to do list of the tasks to be accomplished that day and prioritize them; 2. choose the first task to be done; 3. set the timer to 25 minutes (or one “pomodoro”); 4. work on the task until the timer rings; 5. take a five minute break; 6. When the five minutes are up, keep working, pomodoro after pomodoro, until the task is complete. Once the task is complete, you can cross it off your list. Then move on to the next task; 7. every four “pomodoros” take a longer break (15-20 minutes). ... Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:28:24 +0100 838929 http://news.lib.ncsu.edu/2010/04/19/ask-us/ We answer a lot of your questions–over 30,000 last year alone.  Students especially like to use Instant Messenger to get quick answers.  Did you know you can IM us and get help from 8 a.m. until midnight? We can help you figure out how to get articles, how to meet the goals of your assignment, or how to request a bestseller on a Kindle. Here are some of the questions we encounter all the time: “I’m supposed to get three peer-reviewed articles on my topic–and I don’t really know what that means.” “How do I cite this web site?” “I clicked on the FindText button, but I still don’t get to the article. Why’s that?” Here are some recent hardballs: “I need to access the various GIS layers on the NC Art Museum property… including building footprints, topography, vegetation, paths, roadways, water, utilities, floodplain, soil type…” “I’m trying to find a way to set up an automated feed of science and technology news from Norway–in English–for media and peer reviewed research…” “I need a business or economics data set with 50 observations, 6 variables–1 independent and 4 dependent…” And here are three favorites from the last few months: “I’m looking for stuff on the history of the early piracy laws circa 1600s.” “I need articles on cats as an invasive species, in the U.S.” “How do I find the economic impact of replacing the tobacco industry with hemp agriculture in North Carolina?” So go ahead, Ask Us! (Source: NCSU Libraries) Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:10:03 +0100 837613 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/apr/15/stephenie-meyer-most-challenged-authors The Twilight books are among the books that have received most calls to be banned from from US librariesQueen of teen vampire romance Stephenie Meyer has topped every bestseller chart going but she has now made it onto a less coveted chart, after her Twilight books joined the ranks of those most frequently requested to be banned from US libraries.Meyer's novels, about the romance between a human teenage girl and a vampire, came fifth on the American Library Association's list of books which people tried hardest to ban in the last year. This is the first time the Mormon author's novels have appeared in the line-up – JK Rowling and Philip Pullman are both veterans of the list – with complaints about both their level of sexual explicitness and their "religious viewpoint"."It is the books which are read frequently which are frequently challenged – with all the hype around Twilight and the movies and the celebrities I was actually surprised Meyer's books weren't higher," said Angela Maycock at the ALA's office for intellectual freedom. Vampire books in general accumulated a host of complaints last year, Maycock said, with "the idea of vampires and other supernatural entities in opposition to certain religious viewpoints". JK Rowling doesn't make it into this year's list but her Harry Potter books were the most challenged of the last decade, the ALA said today, with complaints over their "satanism" and "anti-family themes".The most challenged books of 2009 were Lauren Myracle's young adult series of books TTYL, written entirely in the style of instant messaging. A host of objections were made to Myracle's books – over their language, coverage of drugs and sexual explicitness. "These books deal realistically with young adult lives – the ickyness, the weirdness of adolescence and the difficult situations lots of teens face," said Maycock. ... Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:09:21 +0100 835753 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/04/14/new-from-ala-the-most-frequently-challenged-books-of-2009-lauren-myracle%e2%80%99s-young-adult-series-ttyl-tops-list/ The American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom (OiF) has published its annual list of the most frequently challenged books. From the Announcement: Lauren Myracle’s best-selling young adult novel series “ttyl,” the first-ever novels written entirely in the style of instant messaging, tops the American Library Association’s (ALA) Top Ten list of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009. Two books are new to the list: Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer and “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult. Both Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and Robert Cormier’s “The Chocolate War” return after being dropped from the list in 2008. “Even though not every book will be right for every reader, the ability to read, speak, think and express ourselves freely are core American values,” said Barbara Jones, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “Protecting one of our most fundamental rights – the freedom to read – means respecting each other’s differences and the right of all people to choose for themselves what they and their families read.” During 2009, the Office of Intellectual Freedom received 460 reports, “on efforts to remove or restrict materials from school curricula and library bookshelves.” OiF receives reports from many sources but most challenges are not reported. They estimate that their statistics reflect only 20-25% of challenges that actually take place in a public libraries, school’s and school libraries. The OIF receives reports of challenges in public libraries, schools, and school libraries from a variety of sources. However, a majority of challenges go unreported. OIF estimates that their statistics reflect only 20-25% of the challenges that actually occur. ... Thu, 15 Apr 2010 05:23:20 +0100 835665 http://wlaweb.blogspot.com/2010/04/alas-top-ten-list-most-challenged-books.html CHICAGO –Lauren Myracle’s best-selling young adult novel series "TTYL," the first-ever novels written entirely in the style of instant messaging, tops the American Library Association’s (ALA) Top Ten list of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009.Two books are new to the list: Twilight (series) by Stephanie Meyer and “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult.Both Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and Robert Cormier’s “The Chocolate War” return after being dropped from the list in 2008.“Even though not every book will be right for every reader, the ability to read, speak, think and express ourselves freely are core American values,” said Barbara Jones, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “Protecting one of our most fundamental rights – the freedom to read – means respecting each other’s differences and the right of all people to choose for themselves what they and their families read.”For nearly 20 years, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has collected reports on book challenges. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed or restricted because of content or appropriateness. In 2009, OIF received 460 reports on efforts to remove or restrict materials from school curricula and library bookshelves.Though OIF receives reports of challenges in public libraries, schools, and school libraries from a variety of sources, a majority of challenges go unreported. OIF estimates that its statistics reflect only 20-25% of the challenges that actually occur.The ALA’s Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009 reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:1. “TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren MyracleReasons: Nudity, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group, Drugs2. “And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell and Justin RichardsonReasons: Homosexuality3. ... Wed, 14 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0100 835936 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Librarianinblack/~3/_rcTdjsyDME/lms.html CIL2010: LMS: What’s Out There & How to Decide The hashtag for the session is #lms if you want to follow what was said on Twitter about the session. Lori Reed started the session. Lori works for the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenberg County and needed to find a way to provide online training and manage overall learning for her library’s staff. Lori’s current LMS was working fairly well, but did not include eLearning. You could look at the roster all printed out. There is a centralized number that people can call to cancel if they’re unable to attend. They have mandatory customer service training and Lori can run a report to see who has and has not attended. They decided to move from an LMS (Learning Management System) to an LCMS (Learning Content Management System) called Luminex. An LCMS allows you to reuse content. It lets learning developers crate, store, reuse, and manage. It lets you deliver small units of learning content and assets called learning objects. The system provides a WYSIWYG editor letting you develop content, images, text, allow comments, and organize the class in a hierarchical manner. To implement an LMS or LCMS, develop a team. Start by talking with IT & the other stakeholders. Talk to the target audience for your learning – what do they want? Narrow your focus, conduct research, and contact vendors. You’ll most likely need to prep an RFP, select finalists, hold demos, test systems over and over, negotiate for pricing and terms, and make a final selection. You will need to decide what your goals are — are you wanting to provide eLearning or just track training? Make sure that you have a valid “business case” that you can present to managers. Decide what your must-have items are: a portal, branding, mobile options, adaptive, assessments, or the ability to create your own content. ... Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:17:17 +0100 836711 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/BqHPGpD1BFU/google-buzz-buttons.html (Cross-posted from the Official Gmail Blog)We've seen lots of people using Google Buzz to share interesting links from around the web. To do so, you had to copy and paste the link from one browser window to another — there weren't buttons that made it easy to post to Google Buzz without leaving the site you're on. Savvy sites like Mashable and TechCrunch quickly got creative and implemented their own Buzz buttons, using Google Reader as the backend. But not every site owner should have to hack together their own version of these buttons (and not everyone who uses Buzz also uses Reader), so this morning we're making copy-and-paste Buzz buttons available for anyone to use.Starting today, you'll see these buttons around the web on participating sites including: The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Glamour, YouTube, Blogger, MySpace, GigaOM, PBS Parents, PBS NewsHour, The Next Web, TweetDeck, SocialWok, Disqus, Vinehub, and Buzzzy. Mashable and TechCrunch have updated their sites to use these new buttons too. A number of sharing platforms, including ShareThis (pictured below), Meebo, Shareholic, AddThis and AddtoAny have also incorporated the Google Buzz button into their sharing functionality, so you'll see Buzz listed as a choice when you go to share something on many other sites around the web as well.If you want to add Google Buzz buttons to your site, just go to buzz.google.com/stuff, configure your buttons with a couple clicks and copy a few lines of JavaScript. Paste this code where you'd like the Buzz buttons to appear and you're all set.And if you'd like to promote your own Google Buzz account, we have a button for you, which allows people to follow you on Buzz right from your blog or website. Here's an example using the Google Buzz team's own Buzz account (clicking it will take you to the Buzz team's profile page and from there you can easily follow our team's posts):Follow on BuzzYou can grab that button code from buzz.google.com/stuff as well. ... Tue, 13 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0100 835696 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Elsua/~3/Fj54gPths5k/ Last Friday, my good friend Jack Vinson put together a rather good blog post where he was reminding us all how crucial collaboration has become for all businesses and knowledge workers out there. He actually references a couple of rather interesting blog entries that reflect some more on the paramount role of collaboration in today’s interconnected and networked world. All of them very good reads. All of them very accurate, too! So why is it that we are not that good at collaborating then, in the first place? Well, probably we have never been taught how to. And, maybe, we should. Needless to say that in today’s corporate world, collaboration is, indeed, now more important than ever. In the era of the Knowledge Economy, it can’t be otherwise. It’s no longer even a choice. For the business, nor for knowledge workers. It’s an imperative. Actually, I would go even further: a matter of pure survival. I am sure you may be thinking I am over-exaggerating a bit, but am I really? I mean, when was the last time you were working with your colleagues in your same building and on the very same project (Just that ONE project!)? Or even in the same country? I bet that was a long while ago! In my own case, the last time I had all of my colleagues in the same building and working on the same project was in 2000. Yes, that far back! From there onwards, people have become a whole lot more distributed, and virtual, to the point where my current team expands globally nowadays across various geographies. And we are all working on a bunch of various different projects / initiatives as well. To us all, like I said, collaboration is not a nice thing to have, but a critical success factor of not only what we do, but who we are as knowledge workers doing Web work day in day out. And I know I’m not alone on this one. ... Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:06:33 +0100 835690 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/VNJN/~3/0_YsPhbec8Y/habitos-de-ninos-y-adolescentes.html Bringué (2009) en un estudio del año 2009, sobre hábitos de niños y adolescentes (de 6 a 18 años) en españa, indica que Internet supera ya a otras pantallas en sus preferencias, dado que esta generación que hace un uso intensivo de las nuevas tecnologías. Por otro lado, se ponen de manifiesto los numerosos retos educativos y sociales que se plantean. Otros aportes del estudio indican que ésta es una generación autónoma y autodidacta, movilizada, multitarea, creativa y precoz en el uso de las nuevas tecnologías. Lo cual sugiere que hace un uso eficiente de la tecnología disponible para comunicarse, conocer, compartir, divertirse y consumir. Sus hogares son entornos equipados y conectados de forma permanente a Internet. Es interesante cuantificar algunos elementos que afirman y sostienen el perfil enunciado:El 95% de los niños (entre 6 y 9 años) y el 97% de los adolescentes (de 10 a 18 años) indica hogar hay una computadora.El 59% de menores de 10 años tiene o usa un teléfono móvil y el 71% afirma tener conexión a Internet, cifra que sube al 82% en el grupo de adolescentes.El lugar más habitual de navegación, 89% de adolescentes y 87,2% de los niños, seguido por el colegio, 28,5% de los mayores y el 31% de los niños.La navegación en modo personal o solitaria es del 85% entre el grupo de adolescentes. Un 30% de los niños navega acompañado por un familiar.Un 70,2% indica que ha aprendido a navegar de forma autónoma.En los mayores de 10 años el uso de Internet se caracteriza por: un 77% usa el programa de mensajería instantánea Messenger,un 65% el correo electrónico, un 56% comparte contenidos, un 71% participa de redes sociales, un 69% descarga música o películas, un 61 usa Internet para jugar. ... Fri, 09 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0100 835375 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Elsua/~3/NJTx_pOAs7M/ If you have been exposed to Social Computing within the enterprise for a little while now I bet most of you folks out there would probably be able to identify one or two of the main issues that every single corporation has got with regards to the wider adoption of social software tools, both inside and outside of the firewall. Those two issues are actually privacy and security. Oh, and perhaps risk management, too! Well, let’s leave out privacy for now, and spend a few minutes going through security and risk management. Specially, in the context where some people keep postulating that social tools make things a whole lot easier with regards to sharing your company’s secrets across, as well as leaking confidential information out to competitors and whoever else. But do they really expose such threats? Are they the only ones creating this discomfort? Well, probably not. And here is why… I love it when going through the various interactions from my social networks on a daily basis you keep bumping into a rather interesting resource that continues to pop up time and time again and you eventually go through it and you realise that the overall content put together is amazingly accurate (Perhaps, too scarily accurate!) today, even thought it was first published over two years ago! WOW! Yes, two years ago! I know that things happen incredibly fast on the world of the Internet, but to think that you bump into a specific piece of content that is incredibly accurate, even today!, but that it was written over two years ago, it surely is quite something! Well, go and have a look into New Technology – The Threat to Our Corporate Information. A Slideshare presentation that has been making the rounds lately (once again) and which touches base on those interesting, and always relevant, topics of security and risk management. ... Thu, 08 Apr 2010 23:38:06 +0100 833970 http://nelh.blogspot.com/2010/04/flowdock-looks-interesting.html Potentially useful...A spin-off of Finnish software development company Nodeta, Flowdock aspires to help developers and others sift out actionable bits of knowledge from ongoing conversations and make them retrievable. Their team messenger services allows separation and tagging of conversational elements. 'In Flowdock, the epiphany comes when you tag a chat message for the first time,' Nodeta and (Source: Libraries in the NHS) Wed, 07 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0100 833817 http://www.shore.com/commentary/weblogs/2010/04/regulating-ether-fcc-confronts-limits.html The Internet is an odd thing. In some ways it is a medium that acts in essence like radio, but with a nearly infinite number of broadcast channels. Sometimes this "ether," as radio was termed in its early days, is used for one-to-many communications, as in Web sites and feeds, sometimes it's used for one-to-one communications, as in email, instant messaging and IP telephony. In all instances the general concept of the Internet is that any individual use of it is just a series of small data packets flowing through any number of different kinds of network connections. In other words, the Internet succeeds largely as a technology by being completely blind to the content of what is being transmitted through it, either in its human value or its internal form.It is this fundamental form of being an infinitely scalable broadcast spectrum that seems to be at the heart of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's troubles in trying to enforce its doctrine of "net neutrality." These efforts experienced a setback recently when a U.S. Court of Appeals decision (PDF) struck down the FCC's attempts to claim regulatory authority over cable Internet provider Comcast's efforts to throttle the Internet bandwidth available to file sharing services. The FCC had argued that it had the ability to stretch its existing regulatory mandates via "ancillary authority" to cover this specific issue. However, the appeals court found that the FCC's efforts were a stretch too far.As The New York Times observed, the decision was written in a way that would make it difficult to reverse via further appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, so this is more than just a one-shot setback for net neutrality. ... Wed, 07 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0100 833372 http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/lawlab/2010/04/hancock Monday, April 5, 12:30 pmBerkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floorRSVP required for those attending in person (kglemaud@cyber.law.harvard.edu)This event will be webcast live at 12:30 pm ET and archived on our site shortly after.This talk is part of the The Psychology and Economics of Trust and Honesty Speaker Series, led by Berkman Fellow Judith Donath and hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society’s Law Lab. For more information, see this page.In this talk we'll consider some of the myths commonly held about deception, and use the intersection of technology and deception to surface and rethink our assumptions about how deception functions in our interpersonal and increasingly mediated lives. The talk will cover some experiments we have conducted and propose the notion of shaping deception practices in online environments. About JeffJeff Hancock is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and in the Faculty of Computing and Information Science, and co-Director of Cognitive Science at Cornell University. His work is concerned with how information technologies – such as email, instant messaging, and social networking sites – affect the way we understand and relate to one another, with a particular emphasis on deception. His research is supported by funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense, and his work on lying online has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, NPR, BBC and ABC News and the CBC documentary The Truth About Lying. Dr. Hancock earned his PhD in cognitive psychology at Dalhousie University, Canada, and joined Cornell in 2002.LinksJeff's Faculty PageJeff's publications (Source: Berkman Blog) Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:30:00 +0100 832866 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/UI8jVgt6j4k/different-kind-of-company-name.html Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google. We’ve been wondering ever since how best to honor that moving gesture. Today we are pleased to announce that as of 1AM (Central Daylight Time) April 1st, Google has officially changed our name to Topeka.We didn’t reach this decision lightly; after all, we had a fair amount of brand equity tied up in our old name. But the more we surfed around (the former) Topeka’s municipal website, the more kinship we felt with this fine city at the edge of the Great Plains.In fact, Topeka Google Mayor Bill Bunten expressed it best: “Don’t be fooled. Even Google recognizes that all roads lead to Kansas, not just yellow brick ones.”For 150 years, its fortuitous location at the confluence of the Kansas River and the Oregon Trail has made the city formerly known as Topeka a key jumping-off point to the new world of the West, just as for 150 months the company formerly known as Google has been a key jumping-off point to the new world of the web. When in 1858 a crucial bridge built across the Kansas River was destroyed by flooding mere months later, it was promptly rebuilt — and we too are accustomed to releasing 2.0 versions of software after stormy feedback on our ‘beta’ releases. And just as the town's nickname is "Top City," and the word “topeka” itself derives from a term used by the Kansa and Ioway tribes to refer to “a good place to dig for potatoes,” we’d like to think that our website is one of the web's top places to dig for information. ... Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:00:00 +0100 831542 http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/6006 BERKMAN CENTER FOR INTERNET & SOCIETY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITYMarch 31, 2010 // Upcoming events and digital media Next Friday April 9th, the Berkman Center will host a symposium on "Journalism's Digital Transition: Unique Legal Challenges and Opportunities", which will address some of the most important legal issues arising from news aggregation and managing online communities, as well as the question of what comes next for journalism, and how the legal profession can assist (or hinder) journalism's digital transition. We hope you might check out the symposium's agenda (http://www.omln.org/conference/agenda) and consider joining us for what promises to be an event that will appeal not just to those interested in law, but journalism, fair use, privacy, ethics, and more. Further information can be found here: http://www.omln.org/conference. Other Berkman Center events for this week include: [1] [MONDAY 4/5/10] Berkman Law Lab Speaker Series: "Old Habits Die Hard: Can Technology Change Deception?" with Jeff Hancock, Cornell University (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/lawlab/2010/04/hancock) [2] [TUESDAY 4/6/10] Berkman Center Luncheon Series: "The Television Cannot Be Revolutionized" with Christian Sandvig, Berkman Fellow (http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2010/04/sandvig) [3] [FRIDAY 4/9/10] Symposium: "Journalism's Digital Transition: Unique Legal Challenges and Opportunities", organized by the Citizen Media Law Project and Cyberlaw Clinic (http://www.omln.org/conference) -- REGISTER NOW! [MONDAY] BERKMAN LAW LAB SERIES on CAN TECHNOLOGY CHANGE DECEPTION?================================================================================== 4/5/10, 12:30 PM ET, Berkman Center Conference Room @ 23 Everett St., Cambridge, MARSVP is required for those attending in person to Karyn Glemaud (kglemaud@cyber.law.harvard. ... Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:31:03 +0100 831381 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/MKuf/~3/bTrFdi9R8-A/our-stand-for-digital-due-process.html The year was 1986. A gallon of gas cost 89 cents, Paul Simon’s Graceland won the Grammy for album of the year, and the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which governs how law enforcement can access electronic data, was signed into law.A lot has changed since 1986. Gas is now measured in dollars and Taylor Swift (born 1989) won album of the year. All the while, technology has moved at record pace. But ECPA has stayed the same. Originally designed to protect us from unwarranted government intrusion while ensuring that law enforcement had the tools necessary to protect public safety, it was written long before most people had heard of email, cell phones or the “cloud” — the term used for programs helping people store personal data like photos and documents online. As a result, ECPA has become outdated.This is why we’re proud to help establish Digital Due Process, a coalition of technology companies, civil rights organizations and academics seeking to update ECPA to provide privacy protections to new and emerging technologies.Specifically, we want to modernize ECPA in four ways:Better protect your data stored online: The government must first get a search warrant before obtaining any private communications or documents stored online;Better protect your location privacy: The government must first get a search warrant before it can track the location of your cell phone or other mobile communications device;Better protect against monitoring of when and with whom you communicate: The government must demonstrate to a court that the data it seeks is relevant and material to a criminal investigation before monitoring when and with whom you communicate using email, instant messaging, text messaging, the telephone, etc.; andBetter protect against bulk data requests: The government must demonstrate to a court that the information it seeks is needed for a criminal investigation before it can obtain data about an entire class of users. ... Tue, 30 Mar 2010 04:00:00 +0100 831544 http://plablog.org/2010/03/brief-session-notes.html Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data Nicole Engard unfortunately was in the hospital and unable to present this program. David Lee King from Topeka and Shawnee County Library filled in. Right away, he proved a point about technology by whipping out his iPhone to film a short “get well” greeting for Nicole from the crowd. After defining mashups and related terminology like web services and APIs, he discussed some easy tools libraries can use to create their own mashups – web features that mix data from two sources, such as map info from Google and photos from Flickr. Nicole’s suggested way to think of the whole system was to consider the web service as a bridge supporting the APIs (cars) as they pass between two services. This allows the two sources of data to be displayed in one place. Yahoo! Pipes and Dapper are two free tools that will create the necessary code. David also pointed out that many sites like Google maps and Youtube provide code you can embed into your website, so you don’t need to know how to write scripts on your own. Mashups can provide added value to library patrons through such techniques as placing a catalog search box on your library’s Facebook page or adding an IM reference box to each catalog record. Adrift or Right on Target: Perspectives on Floating Collections Greg Bodin from San Mateo County Library, Sarabeth Kalajian from Sarasota County Library System, and Barbara Spruill from Gwinett County Public Library provided three perspectives on floating collections. Each library had experienced a lot of success with floating collections, a system wherein library items are kept at the branch to which they are returned, rather than going by courier back to a home branch. ... Sun, 28 Mar 2010 00:54:29 +0100 830485 http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/books/rss/~3/20W3jYPcqNw/thirties-intimate-history-juliet-gardiner 'Even on bad writing days there was something I could spend time finding out'Lots of the rules for writing non-fiction are just the same as they are for writing fiction ("Put one word after another", 20 February). Whether it's biography, history, astronomy or anything else that comes in the category of factual, you need to be at your desk just as early (or at least as long) as if you live by your imagination. And you need to turn up there every day (unless you are somewhere else, of which more later).You need to avoid exclamation marks and clichés (like the plague), you should use adverbs as if they were rationed and remember that in real life – which is where non-fiction writers are – people say things, or possibly argue them, or occasionally insist on them. They do not proclaim, or aver, or laugh them (as celebrity magazines would have us believe) – or mull them, for heaven's sake, as I read recently. And if you ever start a sentence with "meanwhile", you have literally lost the plot.Non-fiction writers have many advantages over fiction writers: the most profound being, as Richard Holmes said when he was writing his biography of the poet Shelley, "At least I always have the man." As I wrote The Thirties: An Intimate History, I felt grateful every day for the fact that I always had the decade, and even on bad writing days there was something I could spend time finding out that I was pretty sure I would be able to use. The crumpled ball of paper syndrome (or its electronic equivalent) still happens, of course, but it can usually be smoothed out and used somewhere.The other plus point is research – and that brings us to where the being somewhere else comes in, because writing non-fiction books requires months, if not years, in libraries and archives and record offices, reading newspapers, invariably on that mind-numbing interim technology, microfilm. ... Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:08:04 +0100 827947 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Librarianinblack/~3/44QA1nzsYSI/textplus.html Check out this happy-dancing-monkey-fairy-of-goodness! You can get 100% free text messaging with textPlus, an application available on the web, iPhone, and Android.  It’s ad-supported, but the ads aren’t that intrusive.  It also does group-texting (think of it like at texting version of an email distribution list).  I think this could be so, so useful for libraries trying to do more with text but fearful of fees or costs.  I think this has huge possibilities for us.  I think libraries could use this group texting for book clubs, or even among staff for a stumper reference question help forum.  There are dozens of ideas – so hey, Biblioblogosphere Braintrust – have at it and come up with some more! Here’s how the company describes the textPlus service: textPlus is committed to providing free  texting through our ad sponsored app. Texts are entirely free and there’s no limit to how many messages you can send or receive. (Use WiFi, 3G or Edge). Your textPlus address makes having a cell # unnecessary, even if your friends don’t have textPlus! As long as they have a text plan they can text your textPlus address as a message to the number 60611. Or just go app to app. We didn’t get the memo that texting is only between 2 people. We also want you to be able to text your friends who don’t have an iPhone. Unlike Blackberry Messenger or other apps, you can group chat with ANY phone, and everyone gets every message. (Source: LibrarianInBlack) Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:45:14 +0100 828351 http://blog.njla.org/archives/2010/03/#000696 By The Messenger-Gazette March 18, 2010, 3:03PM Courtesy Somerset County Library SystemORIGINAL BOOK MOBILE — The Somerset County Library System started 80 years ago with only a book truck, maroon in color with gold lettering held about 500 books. By Carly Bohach for The Messenger-Gazette It all started with a Model T Ford driven by head librarian Dorothy Van Gorder. The book truck, able to hold about 500 books, traveled county roads delivering books to Somerset County Library System cardholders. Now celebrating 80 years of service, the system contains eight branch libraries that house a combined collection of some 3 million items for circulation, including books, newspapers, magazines, DVDs, CDs and e-books. Through the years, one thing has remained constant — the system’s mission: to provide patrons with the information they are seeking. “Customer service is extremely important, and our staff does a wonderful job serving our patron base,” said Evelyn Silverstein, chairwoman of the Somerset Country Library Commission. Van Gorder, the first county library director, played an important role in establishing this high level of customer service. Through her leadership, eight association libraries were formed, library services were delivered to rural communities, and the library was the first county unit to relocate to the new County Administration Building in Somerville in 1952. To better serve the public, the Somerset County/Bridgewater Library opened in 1981 at 1 Vogt Drive. Since then, the facility has been providing services to patrons while housing the functions of the county library system. Although the format and the way information is delivered have changed, Somerset County Library System Director Jim Hecht said he believes the library is an ideal community center. “The library is a natural meeting place. ... Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:00:00 +0100 829596 http://vivabibliotecaviva.blogspot.com/2010/03/libraries-of-futur.html Sian Harris reports back from the Online Information conference that was held in London in December‘Some studies have found that references on Wikipedia are as good as those that users get from libraries. What does that say about our profession?’ challenged Blaise Cronin, dean and professor of information science at Indiana University, USA. He was speaking in the Libraries of the Future session at the Online Information conference in December.Cronin noted that reference queries, reference transactions and circulation in libraries have been steadily decreasing over recent years. And libraries are progressively getting less and less of universities’ budgets, especially in the current financial crisis, he said. One of the issues that may arise from this is staffing. Libraries sometimes spend almost half their budget on staff but there can be duplication of effort, Cronin observed.He predicted that future academic libraries are going to be zones of sanctuary and security where people can be networked and work together. He envisaged a re-conceptualised space that is a combination of coffee shop, book shop and speed dating centre, with core material and off site stores. He also predicted greater collaboration between libraries beyond the consortia deals of today. Working together across entire states or countries would help address long-tail information needs and bring economies of scale.Libraries need to understand what users want and embrace opportunities, he argued. ‘Students want material that is virtual and personalised. We need to get material into the palm of users’ hands and get the library brand out there to compete with Google and new services like ChaCha,’ he said.In her conference session, emerging technology information consultant Ellyssa Kroski gave examples of research libraries starting to do just that. ... Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:00:00 +0100 828392 http://www.bauenblog.info/2010/03/13/servei-de-referencia-virtual-amb-mibew-web-messenger/ Fa uns mesos vaig instal·lar-me als meus dominis el servei d’assistència virtual i xat Mibew Web Messenger. Fins llavors, havia usat el badge del Google Talk, però presentava algunes limitacions. Es tracta d’un programa open-source, escrit en PHP i MySQL, i que cal instal·lar en un servidor sota un domini propi. El procés d’instal·lació és força senzill, i només caldrà configurar una base de dades al servidor, i seguir els passos de l’instal·lador. Està disponible en tres idiomes: anglès, castellà i rus. El tinc instal·lat a danielgil.info, la meva pàgina professional, i apareix també aquí al blog. Aquestes són algunes de les seves característiques: Llistat d’espera de visitants. Historial de xats i estadístiques. Missatges predeterminats. Botó d’accés configurable per a posar a les nostres pàgines web. Múltiples operadors, i possibilitat de configurar el perfil de cada un d’ells (fotografia, adreça de correu electrònic, privilegis dins del sistema, etc.). Opcions del sistema: plantilla gràfica, logotip de l’empresa, connexions segures, etc.). Enviament dels xats a l’adreça de correu electrònic de l’usuari. I en general, cal destacar que es té un control total i absolut sobre les nostres comunicacions a través d’aquest sistema. En definitiva, penso que es tracta d’una eina molt potent en l’àmbit dels serveis d’assistència i referència virtuals, i molt útil tant per a biblioteques de tota mena com per a professionals freelance de qualsevol sector, i que vulguin incloure aquests serveis en la seva pràctica laboral. També es poden veure més exemples del seu funcionament a les web de la Maria José Sola,  a Catorze.com o a Iulius.net. Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast) (Source: [ bauen_Blog ]) Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:00:51 +0100 826401 http://michaelgolrick.blogspot.com/2010/03/tweet-tag-connect-using-social.html Staff from the Terrebonne Parish Library did the presentation. Lauren Ledet and Tracy Guyan.Much of the discussion is on the Facebook "Fan Page" and differences between the two.As a library they have a profile page, and do not see much use. See a lot of spam, marketing from authors on the profile page. For the general public, most use the fan page. For events, you cannot "invite" people who are fans, even though you can invite those who are "friends" on the profile page.The fan page is linked to their Twitter account. One disadvantages is that Twitter is limited to 140 characters. They use tinyurl.com for shortened links.They have a MySpace account, but are finding that the volume of use is very much lower. Also feel like Facebook is "more professional."As the administrator of their Facebook page, they can see demographics of users. In Terrebonne, Lauren is the only one who posts. Some libraries have multiple posters. In Terrebonne, Lauren does post at the request of other staff (like her director!).Use Facebook for marketing of events, and Lauren showed several examples. She has "friended" all of the local reporters so that they get all the updates and tweets. Tries to post every day, takes about 30 - 60 minutes distributed over the day. Because it is for the whole parish system, she tries to be sure to post for each of the locations.They do not promote at library card sign ups, but do promote it in newsletters and signature files for email. An excellent question about choosing between Twitter and Facebook. Lauren noted that she deals with more people on Facebook, and with more organizations on Twitter.Ouachita Parish Library is using links to promote summer reading and expects that the use of the Facebook page will skyrocket.Tracy mentioned that they do not have a policy on social networking. They monitor what is said, however. ... Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 826144 http://bibliotequices.blogspot.com/2010/03/cdu-para-oscares-2010.html Ficam aqui as notações base da classificação CDU para as obras nomeadas este ano (embora alguns tenham de ter mais que uma notação).791.221.25 Comédia negraA Serious Man (2009, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen)In the Loop (2009, Armando Iannucci)791.221.4 Melodrama/RomancePrecious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)Up in the Air  (2009, Jason Reitman)Crazy Heart (2009, Scott Cooper) A Single Man (2009, Tom Ford)Julie & Julia (2009, Nora Ephron)The Messenger (2009, Oren Moverman)Nine (2009, Rob Marshall)Faubourg 36 (2008,  Christophe Barratier)791.221.5 Thriller. Suspense. CrimeInglourious Basterds (2009, Quentin Tarantino, Lee Daniels) The Lovely Bones (2009, Peter Jackson) Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009, Michael Haneke) 791.221.5:343.123.12 Filme de detectives Sherlock Holmes (2009, Guy Ritchie)791.221.8  FantasiaThe Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009, Terry Gilliam)Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009, David Yates)791.221.8-311.9 Ficção CientíficaAvatar (2009): James CameronDistrict 9 (2009, Neill Blomkamp)Star Trek (2009, J.J. Abrams) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009, Michael Bay) 791.222  Filme de guerraThe Hurt Locker (2008, Kathryn Bigelow)791.224 Filme históricoThe Last Station (2009, Michael Hoffman)791.227 Biografias ficcionadasAn Education (2009, Lone Scherfig)The Blind Side (2009, John Lee Hancock)The Young Victoria (2009, Jean-Marc Vallée) Il divo (2008, Paolo Sorrentino)Coco avant Chanel  (2009, Anne Fontaine)Bright Star (2009, Jane Campion) 791.227.1 Baseados em histórias verdadeiras. Filmes inspirados em.Invictus (2009, Clint Eastwood)791.228 Animação. Banda desenhadaUp (2009, Pete Docter)The Princess and the Frog (2009,  Ron Clements, John Musker)Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009, Wes Anderson) Coraline (2009, Henry Selick)The Secret of Kells (2009, Tomm Moore)791.229. ... Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0100 825005 http://www.resourceshelf.com/2010/03/05/milestones-twitter-crosses-50-billion-tweet-mark/ From the Wall Street Journal: …The Journal’s Numbers Guy, Carl Bialik, reminded us recently that these “milestone” numbers don’t mean much. Some might want to believe that the content of the 10 billionth iTunes download last week indicates the enduring power of the classics like Johnny Cash. But that doesn’t change the fact that the top iTunes song of all time is by the Black Eyed Peas. The speed with which the tweet milestone was reached, however, does indicate that Twitter is still growing. The microblogging service said recently that it sees 50 million tweets per day, up from 2.5 million about a year ago. From The Guardian: Sadly, you can’t see the 10 billionth because it was from a user who protects his or her tweets. Twitter’s numbers are, of course, still relatively small compared to the sort of traffic hitting really popular sites such as YouTube and Facebook. Windows Live Messenger runs around 10bn “tweets” per day. See Also: Want to Keep-Up With the Number of Tweets, Up to the Second? Check out GigaTweet. (Source: ResourceShelf) Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:10:12 +0100 823883 http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2010/03/article-note-on-assessing-promotion-of.html Citation for the article:Sobel, Karen, "Promoting Library Reference Services to First-Year Undergraduate Students: What Works?" Reference and User Services Quarterly 48.4 (2009): 362-371.Read via Academic Search Complete (EBSCO).I continue my look at some articles on reference assessment that I started over here and continues here. This one seemed relevant to me given the work I do as an outreach librarian where a good part of my job is promoting the library. When it comes to promotion for undergraduates, it is something I try to do in collaboration with our instruction librarian when it is feasible. Sobel's article explores three things. First, it looks at how aware are undergraduate students when it comes to reference services. Second, it asks what percentage of those students seek help from reference librarians. Third, the author asks about what online media the students find comfortable to use in communicating with the reference librarians. I think that last question could have been explored a bit further. It certainly can be explored further now given the ubiquity of services like Facebook and Twitter. That would be something I would be interested in especially since we do have a Facebook page for the library, and we use Meebo chat widgets in our subject guides. I know the study took place in 2007, according to the article, when things like Facebook (it opened to everyone in 2006) and Twitter (also founded in 2006) were still gaining ground, but I guess the fact I can ask the question just shows how quickly things have changed. By the way, Meebo was launched in 2005, and the widgets we use in 2006. I guess I am just saying if I was expanding this type of assessment, I would want more on how social networking is used by the library to reach students.The article opens with a brief summary of promotional techniques that libraries commonly use such as flyers and online links to chat services, things that I will note we do her as well. ... Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:30:00 +0100 824192