As a quick follow-up to last week’s post “Voting, Who Cares about Voting?” I have one more site to share.
I love this site, BeAbsentee.org, which was created by Aaron Bacon and friends at Emerson after noting that it was difficult to find information about voting absentee online. I love that students got involved and created this site. It is a fabulous site–go check it out.
Two more thoughts for this gloomy Friday: one about admissions to college and one about Internet overload.
We will have the serious discussion first. Check out this article about changing admissions standards at UNLV. UNLV seems to be facing some of the same issues that CSUEB is facing and contemplating the same changes in direction, especially trying to place a greater emphasis on research. Just something to think about over the weekend.
And now for some weekend fun. Do you every feel overwhelmed by all the information on the Internet? Does Facebook frighten you or do you feel the Internet sucking away every spare minute of your day? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Check out this video if you want a break before you turn off your computer.
Have a great weekend!
Alright, so the post title might seem like it has nothing to do with information literacy, teaching, libraries, anything else I actually said I would discuss on this blog, etc. But actually, voting has everything to do with the mission of getting out information, empowering students and just trying to change the world.
This is an awesome, star-studded video talking about voting in a way that is sure to catch the attention of even the most apathetic student. Seriously, share it with all. And it is not too late to register to vote in California. Oh, and thanks to Judith for the link and agreeing that it makes a great discussion point for any talk about information and power.
After you are done watching this video, check out the Absentee Voter Guide from Harvard University’s Institute of Politics. It is an interactive map with information on what is needed to vote absentee and links to all the forms necessary plus deadlines for applying.
Now you have no excuse–you can now rock the vote. And look–application of information literacy to current events and real life outside the classroom!
So from the title of today’s post, you can probably tell that I’m getting a little frustrated by only hearing about doom and gloom all the time on every issue. It is easy to slip into pessimism about the state of the libraries, the state of the nation and the state of the world. But to me, that is way too much like giving up or giving in. Instead, let’s be optimistic–at least where libraries and librarians are concerned. There are a lot of great things that are happening out there and a lot of ways to turn a lot of glass half-empty scenarios into glass half-full scenarios. And no, I’m not saying to ignore reality, rather I’m saying let’s bend reality into what works for us.
Case 1: Jeff Jarvis’ amazing article Let’s Junk the Myths and Celebrate what We’ve Got.
I love this article. Jarvis could be describing how many librarians feel about the Internet and new technologies, couldn’t he? He completely underscores what I try to get across in this blog: yes there is junk on the Internet, but there is so much potential too.
Case 2: Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere
Everyone just has to get on board with the fact that blogs are not going away anytime soon. In fact, more are coming online every day. So libraries and librarians need to continue to get out in the blogosphere and engage others. It’s not enough to have a website and think that we have a web presence to the extent we need. Nor should marketing only occur through the library’s website–we need to be more than a website to our patrons in order to stay relevant.
Case 3: Library Quote #1 & Library Quote #2
There are two great photographs of pillars inside a library with library quotes on them. How cool an idea is that? The photographer, unfortunately, kept all rights reserved instead of using a Creative Commons License so I did not directly paste them in this blog. I encourage you to check them out though. But if you don’t want to click through, the quotes are as follows:
“A university is just a group of buildings gathered around a library” Shelby foote
“I don’t believe that libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, and that’s been the main reason for our policy of employing wild animals as librarians” Gorilla librarian sketch-Monty Python
Always remember, never take yourself or your job too seriously. If we can still have fun, we can stay relevant and be optimistic about our place and task in the grand scheme of society.
As I always leave my students with a final thought for the day, I’ll leave you with one too that will help you keep your optimism. “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” ~Mark Twain
Comments welcome. Stay optimistic and curious and you will be able to find creative ways of doing the work of the library.
I’m still completely in the back-to-school mode of thought and this post reflects it. Think of it as a continuation of Friday’s post: two parts fun and one part seriousness.
I was reflecting on one of my favorite quotes yesterday, “No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care” (Don Swartz). I thought that it was very appropriate in our roles both as librarians and as teachers. We know a lot about a whole lot of things, but no one really does care unless we can help them. Like the best teachers always say about the classes they teach: the class isn’t about the teacher, s/he already knows the content, it is about the students and what we can learn from each other. This concept works with marketing the library as well, but that is another day’s post.
Want proof of the power of caring? Check out Rate My Professor. Do you see your name there? If you check out professors, the ones that actually help their students and care about their students’ learning are the ones who most often get the highest ratings. Caring, not being an easy grader, is the key to becoming a great professor. It is fun to look at the professors responses to their students ratings too.
Here is one of the great interactive sites on the web Free Rice. Here you can improve your vocabulary while getting sponsors who advertise on the site to donate rice to the UN World Hunger Program. For every answer you get right, 20 grains of rice are donated to the UN World Hunger Program. It’s easy, it stretches your brain and you get to help people without ever leaving your computer. And to think that some say interactive web has no good uses!
Do you love music? Do you want a soundtrack to play at work so you aren’t distracted by everyone coming in and out of your office all day? Check out Pandora from the Music Genome Project. You get to design your own radio stations that only play the music you like. You can choose one of their already made stations or create your own station around your favorite artists, songs, genres, etc. Just follow the really simple instructions for creating a free account and start making stations. You can make a station to listen to when writing articles, another for when you need some energy, etc. Go have some fun on Pandora.
I promise the next post will be less about back-to-school and more about diving into the fray of Web2.0 and libraries. Happy Monday!
Today’s post is mostly about having fun with a little bit of food-for-thought thrown in along the way. I think we need some fun because it is a hot Friday and school has started!
Do you know what your sound is? Really-there is a site called Sound Badge that lets you create your own sound badge that you can use on your mobile phone, with Skype or on your blog if it allows JavaScript. I found this cool resource through Librarian in Black blog. While I’m not thrilled that there is no rock option for starting as the base of a sound badge (it will make more sense once you have been to the site, trust me), it is still fun and you could have all your students make a sound badge and compare them online. Mine’s here.
Did you know that many books have teaser trailers that are available on YouTube? Well, it was news to me. Some of the trailers were hilarious while others were very serious. Many were quite professionally done. I think this is a great way to publicize books. I think we need a trailer for our library on YouTube.
Here is the food-for-thought article on Jakob Nielsen’s findings of online literacy. If his name sounds familiar, it is not surprising as he is the big name in usability testing, among other research areas. He makes the case that online reading is not a replacement for reading in print based on his extensive research. This has profound implications for online teaching and online campuses. If students, and people in general, do not process or even read blocks of text online, how do we deliver online classes that require reading long passages of complicated text such as philosophy, history or English? What does this tell us about the whole push of buying ebooks (I’m not thinking of Kindle, etc. here but of ebooks that are read through online platforms such as ebrary, etc.)? Do students use them? Do they retain the information? Like I said, profound implications for online learning and for those of us who are trying to do what is best for our students in this increasingly online environment.
Now, I couldn’t end on such a heavy note for this Friday, so I have for you an article (with photographs) of a completely envy-inspiring library. I want Jay Walker’s library–enough said.
Have a great Friday and a terrific weekend. Comments always welcomed.
At CSUEB, we start the fall quarter today and in honor of that I have three helpful resources: cheap textbooks, reference sites and the list universe. Today is all about useful reference sources that just happen to be found on the web.
Textbooks
Everyone knows how expensive textbooks are and how annoying it is to wait for the one copy to be returned to reserves so you can check it out for two hours. Been there, done that. So here is a cool article from Lifehacker about the best places to save money on textbooks. Really, do your friends, family and students a favor by sharing this article and the sites from the article. I have to add the site isbn.nu that my friend, Ruth, told me about in grad school. Also a great comparison shopping site for textbooks.
100 Unbelievably Useful Reference Sites
The title is from the actual post at Teaching Tips.com and not one I made up. A great list of reference sites on the web, some of which I’m sure you’ve heard of and others that might be new. A handy resource for all of us who work at a reference desk or in any other capacity where we are answering questions. The sites are divided into categories and I think it is cute that five sites are listed as “Librarian References”–obviously someone still has a limited idea about what is useful for librarians.
The List Universe
And, in my attempt to always have something fun in a post, I give you The List Universe. I happen to love lists and this site has a ton of them. But other than just being a place to spend time finding out random bits of information, it also is good for reference work and those annoying trivia games that some people find fun. So check it out; I’m not saying that all of it is great, but enough is to warrant a bookmark in del.icio.us.
Happy start of the Fall Quarter for CSUEB and happy Wednesday to everyone!
So, this is going to be much shorter than my usual posts as I am supposed to be at CSUEB fall convocation in 30 minutes…Well, I’ll try to be brief.
So, are you feeling that technology is taking over your life? Fear not! I have a couple of great resources from Lifehacker (once again subscribe to their blog, awesome stuff, although so many posts per day that it is easy to get overwhelmed).
I love this post Ungeek to Live: On Reading Well. Here’s just something to warm a librarian’s or bibliophile’s heart. A techie blog calling for more reading, scheduling time to read, and reading for fun. Very happy find on my RSS feed. Don’t miss the comments to this post, very lively discussion of the merits of libraries, used bookstores and chains as places to get books.
Second post from Lifehacker Best of the Best: High Five Winners. A great list of the top tools that Lifehacker readers voted on in various categories. I’ve got to say that I love VLC as a media player and a lot of these other recommendations. Also, I just found where the next time sink for me is coming from–testing all of these tools that I’ve not used yet. And notice that paper and pencil come in on top for quite a few categories. Ungeek to live indeed.
Enjoy your Monday. Comments welcomed.
Like the title says, I only have a few thoughts for you to ponder this weekend. (This is probably due to the fact that my brain is a little overloaded from the conference I just attended and thinking about the start of the quarter.) So, in no particular order, here are some resources for the weekend:
From Times Online here is an article on “10 Books Not to Read Before You Die.” I always like reading these kinds of lists. I think it is fascinating to see what other people read and what they like. I have to say, as full disclosure, that I don’t agree with the list as several of my favorite books made the list.
Speaking of books and recommendations (or non-recommendations), have you checked out GoodReads Think of it as an alternate to LibraryThing. You can add books you’ve read, compare them to your friends, get recommendations from other people–it’s like a giant book club. And it’s fun. I think it is a nice way to keep track of books you want to read and, if you are like me, it keeps you from forgetting books what books you’ve read and what you still need to read!
So, still confused about Web 2.0 stuff? Want some more information? Check out Becoming 2.0 wiki from the Summer Institute by MORENet and the Missouri State Library. Lots of great information on the PowerPoints that have been embedded on the wiki. It was amazing to me how much information I could glean from the slides even without having heard the talk. One word: awesome. I hope to get some workshops like this going just as soon as I know my fall quarter schedule.
Last, but certainly not least, check out 2008 Metaverse Tour. It is a YouTube video of over 40 different virtual worlds online. I was floored that there are that many worlds. Just goes to show that libraries and librarians can’t afford to not look into these social universes and figure out just where we fit in this new world.
Have a great weekend!
Okay, so I’m sorry there haven’t been more posts this week. But, in my defense, I’ve been “oriented” at New Faculty Orientation and now am going to be at an on-campus conference (Back to the Bay) for 2 days. So I’ve not been truly slacking, only out of the office. So for those in my library, I’ve not forgotten about the tech brown bags, just waiting for some schedules to come out before we set the dates and start playing with cool new tools!
As I was getting up this morning, I thought about what would be a couple of good resources for this Thursday. And I thought, why not have some fun? So I give you two sources, Unshelved and a talk from the SirsiDynixInstitute.
If you are not familiar with the web comic strip, Unshelved, get ready for a laugh. This is a comic strip that is set in a public library and if you’ve ever worked in a public library you can completely relate. This is just fun and their store is great. I want the shirt that says “Library Schooled.” They are also the people behind Pimp my Bookcart! How can you not like that? So if you are new to the Unshelved universe, read their primer first. Enjoy! Oh, and did I mention you can get the comic strip and news via RSS? Just a thought…
For the second resource today, I give you Stephen Abram’s talk, Twenty five technologies to Watch and How. This is one of the great events that is archived from the SirsiDynix Institute. They are free to watch and listen to. This talk is from January of this year, but is great and I finally got around to listening to it the other day. I listened to the mp3 file, so if someone watches the video, I’d love to hear how it turned out. There is another webinar coming up on September 24th, “Welcome to the profession: Where will you be in 25 years? Is that where you want to be?” which I am totally looking forward to. So pop on by the website, you might just find something useful. Like a webinar a lot, find it fun and useful? Comment to this post to share with everyone else.
Happy Thursday!