Just for fun: Dewey yourself!

Renee's Dewey Decimal Section:

909 World history

Renee = 85455 = 854+55 = 909


Class:
900 History & Geography


Contains:
Travel, biographies, ancient history, and histories of continents.



What it says about you:
You're connected to your past and value the things that have happened to you. You've had some conflicted times in your life, but they've brought you to where you are today and you don't ignore it.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

[Found on Gabrielle's 598 blog.]

Library dragon

I so totally need to knit these for my school libraries! (I just read Carmen Agra Deedy's The Library Dragon to my 4th graders this week - idioms galore!)

I'm already mentally altering the pattern for a dog, a cat, a cow... All I need is time ... or a PTA mom who loves to knit. Any volunteers? ;-)

[Found at BookMoot.]

whoa, did he just say that?!

Big fan of comics. Check out today's Get Fuzzy. (Didn't find a permalink, so browse to 9/25/08 - unless, of course, it has already been taken down.) Did Bucky just say what I think he said? Wow.

Waiting for the fallout...

my first wordle

I've been wanting to explore Wordle as a possible tool to use with my students. I'm wondering, though, if I need to worry about what shows up on the front page and gallery. For now, I've used my first posts to my 598 blog to create my first Wordle:

It's actually pretty cool if you could read it here. I like the proximity and dissonance of "disruptive" and "approval."

Guess I'll have to screen capture a larger image next time. Was hoping for a bigger pic. This can't be too complicated if I want to do it with students. Needs more research...

blogjam

It's a brand new semester with a brand new workload. Don't know how much time I'll have to post here, but you can follow my web 2.0 adventures in a new blog (or two) that I've created for my social software course. The new blogs are destined for abandonment at the end of the semester. So, maybe I'll cross post here. (Definitely, if I can find some way to automate it and my posts make any sense to anyone outside of the course.) But for now, I'm all blogged up.

"loving novelty and yet craving depth"

Yeah, that's me. But who has the time or the patience (i.e., the attention span) for depth? None of us, apparently. I thought this was an interesting article/commentary.

[Found at Library Link of the Day]

That's the plan, rule the world

A HUGE thank you to Sophie at Pop Goes the Library for the link to Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

Oh my head! To think I almost missed it! Hurry! Watch it for free before it disappears after July 20th, or buy your season pass on iTunes.

[Note to parents: Some of the language is not appropriate for the little ones.]

Distance learning materials and fair use

Here's an interesting article for online LIS students. I'll be interested to see how it plays out. Maybe my profs will have to cut back on the assigned readings? ;-)

[Found at Library Link of the Day.]

midsemester blues - summer session style

Forgive me, but I can't stand another minute of my summer course. This is when the dangers of online learning really begin to show. I have no set schedule, no classes to attend. So, what's to keep me keeping up...except for falling behind?

I've spent the past 2 days reading the first 2 books in the Twilight series (or, eh hem, the "Twilight saga"). I tried to listen to my cataloging lecture today, I really did. But the 3rd book in the series is sitting here, singing to me, just begging me to sink my teeth into it...
(Sorry, pun intended, I couldn't resist.)

If the procrastination demons don't leave me soon, watch my other blog for the reviews.

Hey! I resemble that remark.

This has apparently been around for a while. But it is new to me, and may be to you, too. Enjoy!

Found this web comic with a brilliant analogy.

The drunk librarian analogy has been immortalized on a vinyl sticker. Love the design:

Monday morning rant

The moral of this story is: Take enough time away from your Blackberry to read a story to your kid instead of having them listen to one over the phone. Really.

I don't know which is more disappointing to me: The creep who hacked into the story line, or the quote from the parent who uses the service instead of reading to her kids. What's next? Dial-a-kiss for the kid's skinned knees? At least that one won't be such a stretch for the hacker.

[Found at Speak Quietly.]

Value of an MLIS?

Library Research Service has a quick survey: The value of an MLIS to you. Students can participate, but they're really aiming for feedback from those in the field. I'm interested to see the results. It doesn't claim to be scientific, but should give a Q&D picture.

I can think of a few fellow students who question the value of an MLIS. But these are the same folks who complain about the workload and the emphasis on theory versus practical training. By the end of the semester, I'm usually with them on the work load. But on the issue of theory vs practicality. I tend to side with the other camp: Give me the theory; I can get the practical training on the job or at training courses. This is a graduate program. For the time, effort and money I am putting into this, I want an education, not a job training program.

I've found that the debate surrounding practical vs theoretical emphasis of MLIS programs is not limited to my program and classmates. At first, I was surprised by this. (Again, master's program...hello?) But different people have different goals and perspectives. Some are pursuing the MLIS purely for advancement. If they've been successful to date without the degree and theoretical background, I can see where they might question its value.

I've also heard many people question: Do you really need a master's degree to do the job? This is particularly true for people outside of the library world. My family and friends were surprised that I needed to pursue (yet another) degree for this career change.

I've joined late in the game, so I'm missing some of the history on this. Is the MLIS requirement relatively new? I heard somewhere that ALA pushed for the MLIS requirement. Is that true? Is so, didn't that action reflect the wishes of the membership?

And maybe all of this is the point of the survey? If so, it barely scratches the surface of the issue.

Random question: end of spring semester soundtrack suggestions?

As I sit here and struggle with my final paper of the semester, I realize what's missing: a soundtrack. Years ago, studying for finals, I always had what we old-timers referred to as a mix tape playing in the background. The The (no, kiddies, that's not a typo, look them up), The Smiths and The Cult got me through junior year finals. Senior year it was 10,000 Maniacs, The Church and Jane's Addiction. Of course, there were no iPods, so music was blasting out of boom boxes all over campus. Do they still do that? I hope so. There is nothing like walking across campus on a spring day, following your favorite music to its source, and finding out who is blaring it out their window.

So, here I sit, 20 years later (yes, 20!), writing my final paper of the semester without a soundtrack. The new REM is very reminiscent of their 80s stuff. Maybe a little too much? (Dudes, you are making me feel OLD.) I need something new. I tried John Mayer, but that tabloid picture of him in a mankini keeps popping into my head. (Okay, EW!) Too distracting. Jason Mraz? Too-complicated lyrics - I can't concentrate. I recently started listening to David Ford. Love him, but um, I'm already depressed, thanks.

Any suggestions?

Parts of a book 101 and blog abandonment?

I was writing a post for my Materials for Children class and wanted to talk about an illustration on the inside cover of the book. I originally referred to it as the "flyleaf" but wasn't sure if this is correct. I found this great diagram (I must-see for inner and aspiring librarians) on what may be an abandoned blog.

Which brings me to my random question of the moment: At what point do you consider a blog abandoned? The one I found hasn't been updated since February. I have blogs that I haven't updated in ages, but I don't consider them abandoned (yet). I still think of them wistfully, and often think, "This would be a great post for my old blog xyz." I miss them. Do they miss me? Have I abandoned them? Should I? What's the concensus on MOPD (multiple online personality disorder)?

BTW, that illustration is on the endpapers or endsheets of the book.

Cool new toy in beta!

Try Boolify for your next web search. You can construct Boolean searches visually with puzzle pieces. Seriously, check it out. It still has some bugs and functionality issues that need to be worked out but, WOW! The creators at the Public Learning Media Laboratory are developing a curriculum to accompany it that includes web searching and evaluation of sources. Check it out and join in on the beta test.

Citation frustration? Try this simple explanation!

One of the most frustrating things about writing papers is getting my citations and references into proper format -- especially for electronic sources. Grammar Girl's latest episode (102) does a nice job of addressing this topic. She covers the why's, how's, and risks of electronic citations. Risks? Yup. GG talks about evaluating credibility and considering permanence.

After you listen, be sure to read the online transcript. GG provides examples of website and podcast citations in APA, MLA and Chicago Manual styles.

IMHO, an excellent podcast for sharing with middle school and high school students. GG packs a lot of information in a neat, easily digestible little podcast.

Save RIF

From the RIF website:

"Reading Is Fundamental was eliminated from the President's proposed FY2009 budget. Congress can save it.


Contact your congressional representatives and urge them to support RIF's $26 million funding appropriation.


Last year, 4.6 million at-risk children were able to choose and keep 16 million free books through RIF programs. Without this funding, these programs will cease."


Take action.

National Library Week on YouTube

Check out ALA's NLW promo videos on YouTube. This one is my current fav, but Go Fish is a close second. For some reason, they are posted under different user names. :-( Use this link for the username AmLibraryAssociation to see them all (I think). Enjoy!

found in class: FlashEarth.com

We were looking at online geographical resources for my online Reference Sources & Services class. (Hmm... my online course is very different than the one posted on the RU site.) Anyway, I surfed around and found FlashEarth which lets you switch between different online map services (Google Maps, Microsoft VE, Yahoo! Maps, Ask.com, Open Layers and NASA Terra). When fully zoomed out, click on NASA Terra to see cloud cover. When zoomed in - especially on a mixed use area that you know has changed recently - click on the different providers and check out which one is most up to date, and look at the differences between the satellite images (Google Maps and the aerial photo maps from Microsoft VE or Ask.com). Cool!

mid-semester blues

i heart parodies and youtube

A cool parody of one of my favorite children's book series. Enjoy!



[Found at Speak Quietly]

another assignment done!

This one might even be useful in the future:

Social Software in Middle and High School Instruction: A Webliography for Educators

There is so much info out there, it was hard to limit it to the 7-10 resources specified in the assignment. (So difficult, in fact, that I included 12!) This little site might make a good start for a wiki. Yes?

remind me again. why am i doing this?

Okay, so maybe taking nine credits this semester wasn't my smartest move. After several weeks of very little sleep trying to juggle the workload, kids, job, scouts, PTA, and that guy who sleeps next to me and pays for all of this...I'm wondering, "Why, why, why did I decide to go back to grad school (again)?" A few minutes catching up on bloglines, and I have my answer. (Isn't the web a wondrous thing?)
[Found at Speak Quietly.]

mission vs ambition

What do you do when your lofty, altruistic mission conflicts with your naked ambition? Well, if you're Google, apparently, you cave.

"Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Sounds great, except someone forgot to tell the folks at Google that China happens to be part of our universe.

Where librarians fight for intellectual freedom and access to information, Google fights for its right to earn money in a restrictive environment. In an online article in The Register, a San Francisco attorney states, "This a simple matter of Google adhering to the Chinese dictate...China is a sovereign nation, and they can set their own laws. You can't force a company to go up against a country." But the company can choose whether or not to do business there.

In the same article, Google spokesman Gabriel Stricker is quoted as saying, "By being in China, we help people access more information, and when we do restrict information, we make clear that we've done so." The problem is when you start making these kinds of rationalizations, where does the line drawing end?

[Article found at Library Link of the Day]

Even Captain Kirk has an inner librarian...

[Found at LibrarianInBlack]

when librarians get married

Check out this awesome wedding invitation. It's the ultimate in geek chic!

Make sure to check out the catalog card and response cards here.

Can you tell I'm a fan of librarian/writer/humorist Scott Douglas (La Counte)? While you're there, check out the rest of his blog and his column at McSweeney's Internet Tendency. What the heck, while you're at it, pre-order his new book at Amazon.com. I grabbed an ARC at ALA Midwinter in Philly. It's a fun read for your inner librarian.

(I know what you're thinking, and no, you can't borrow mine. What do I look like...a librarian or something?)

This just in: Libraries don't suck

So, you may have seen this before, but it is new to me. Public libraries don't suck. It's official. Just ask the folks at Wired. It seems public libraries are right up there with Guitar Hero and tap water. Awesome. Thanks, guys. I was starting to get worried.
[LIS News]

books that make you dumb?

Virgil Griffith, Caltech student and creator of Wikiscanner, has released a new web report, "Booksthatmakeyoudumb." He correlated the average SAT/ACT scores of more than 1300 US colleges and universities with the 10 most popular books listed on their Facebook pages. Fun to look at and see where your favorites lie.

Several books scored way higher than I would have expected. (Reminds me of the "WTF?" group on Shelfari.) Enjoy! [Found at lisnews and librarian.net]

aesthetically pleasing web stats

or should I say "web analytics"? I've blogged about these before, but thanks to infodoodads, I've found a newer, prettier, more comprehensive, one-stop (and still free!) service in Clicky. (Okay, so it's from a not-so-up-to-the-moment post, but I was waiting for Clicky to roll out their latest version over the weekend.) infodoodads does a nice job of describing Clicky's features, so I won't repeat it here.

Suffice it to say that Clicky has a clean, intuitive interface, and stats enough to satisfy inner librarians, tech geeks, web marketers and narcissist bloggers alike.

customizing Snap Shots

I've been playing around with Snap Shots for a few days, and I finally think I have it customized to my liking.

Snap Shots plugs in automatically to Blogger, so it truly is a "snap" to use, but it was adding Snap Shots to my del.icio.us cloud, my post footers, and everything, ad infinitum. It was not pretty. And, as a newbie to all of this, it took me some time on their site to find and decipher their FAQ.

Anyway, here's the q&d of how I customized Snap Shots for this blog:

1. Create an account and install on your site. (These directions were relatively straightforward - especially for Blogger, where everything was automated.)

2. Under advanced options, only check the boxes for:

• "Show Snap Shots Link Icon" (I have no problem with supporting their branding.)
• "Trigger Snap Shots on Link Icon Only" (That way your readers can choose whether to view the Snap Shot. Otherwise, if you have lots of links, it can be annoying. Sorry.)

3. Do NOT check the box for "Enable Snap Shots for External Links"

4. When you post and want to include a Snap Shot for a link, edit the html by inserting "class="snap_shots" between the "a" and the "href", like so:
a class="snap_shots" href="http://www.snap.com"

Voila!

Something (new?) for the toolkit

I was updating the RASL blog today and wanted to add RSS buttons. Found this cool button generator from TopRank Online Marketing. Just be careful which ones you choose - feedlounge, for one, appears to be obsolete. Also, the Google Reader button doesn't seem to be working from that site, but you can generate one quickly at Google here.

traffic stats and teachable moments

Okay, so you know how giddy I am over the traffic stats for my site? I now have hits from all over the globe, including somewhere in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa. lol

Anyway, my kids are getting a kick out of it, too. Statcounter includes a visitor map, which puts little clickable pushpins all over a map of the world with info on folks who visit your website. (Statcounter even includes a little image of the country's flag.) Last night, we saw that I had a hit in Kyrgyzstan. We then looked for it on our globe, and Googled it to find the correct pronunciation. (Turns out not too many folks agree on how to pronounce Krgyzstan.)

This would be great in the classroom. You'd need to do some viral marketing to get hits - ask people to email the link to their farthest friends/relatives, get people to include your link on their blog, etc. Great for teaching about social studies, geography, politics (which countries restrict online information and access), the spread of information (and potential misinformation) online, marketing, language, connectedness, ... and I'm sure there is more you can think of.

social cataloging

Someone from class just recommended GoodReads and invited others to join and share reading lists over this (rapidly-expiring) winter break. As much as I'd like to join in the fun, I've already taken my sister up on her invitation to join Shelfari - in spite of the fact that I was psyching myself up to LibraryThing.

How to choose?

By friends? Ideally, my online "book circle" would include my sister and my classmates and expand from there. Is there a solution to the conflicting sites that I don't know about? Blogging seems to transcend this obstacle, but not other social networking apps. I know people who have multiple, topic-specific blogs, or pages on both MySpace and Facebook, for example. But multiple bookshelves would be way too much work.

By features? I couldn't find a good, recent article comparing features. The best I could do was this 2006 blog article comparing Shelfari, LibraryThing and Gurulib (oh, great, there's another one to consider). And what about aNobii? Saw that one mentioned on Wikipedia under social cataloging.

By popularity? Is there a front runner among social cataloging sites? Shelfari and LibraryThing seem to stand out in my awareness.

By reputation? Is membership in one of these sites more becoming of a future librarian than the others? Is one more literary? (Or less so, if, say, one wanted to share a secret passion for romance paperbacks or cozies?) Or is one more hip, as in a Mac vs PC, "us and them" sort of thing?

Which site do you use? Why?

toolkit: how to use the web for research

http://www.internettutorials.net/

Extremely useful and usable info on web-based research. Credit: "All tutorials are maintained by Laura Cohen, Web Support Librarian, University at Albany, SUNY."

I especially like the page on choosing a search engine/directory: http://www.internettutorials.net/choose.html

Found at Gen Y Librarian's blog.

tools for the inner librarian - website management

Yesterday, I wondered aloud, how can i find out who links to my site? Not surprisingly, I found my answer in Google's Webmaster Tools. I found lots of cool links to my site - even in Dutch, Italian, and Chinese(?). (Sorry, I'm still amazed that anyone has seen my site outside of my professor and classmates.)

So far, my online toolkit is fairly limited:

• Google's Webmaster Tools
• StatCounter

I'm using the free/online versions of each. Neat stuff. And very cool that it is free for novices like me to play with.

What other tools are out there? I went back to PLCMC's 23 Things, and was surprised that website management tools were not included in their list for librarians to explore. Actually, web development is not included in the list at all. Some might not be surprised by this, but this inner librarian--having just completed a killer course in multimedia web development as part of my online MLIS program--was more than mildly surprised. Most libraries are on the web. Do they track their statistics? What software do they use? Is it included in their OPAC subscription? But what about their home page? Blog? Calendar? Do they know who is using their site and how they are using it? How many libraries take this information seriously and how do they make use of it?

So, now I'm curious... and, apparently spending my afternoon online. ;-)

how cool is this?

The website I did for my multimedia production class logged some online mileage. :-D

http://www.librarycrunch.com/ (scroll down to 12/17)

http://librarianinblack.typepad.com/librarianinblack/2007/12/index.html (scroll down to 12/21)

http://tldlblog.wordpress.com/2007/12/22/your-inner-librarian/

http://stephenslighthouse.sirsidynix.com/archives/2007/12/explore_your_in.html

http://tametheweb.com/2007/12/explore_your_inner_librarian.htmlhttp://philbradley.typepad.com/phil_bradleys_weblog/2007/12/unleash-your-in.html

A little late, but I just put StatCounter on the site, to see if I get any traffic. I don't see a way to find out who links to my site on StatCounter. Am I missing it? Or is there another tool I need to use?