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