MORE THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

Breeding, Marshall, Technology for the Next Generation, Computers in Libraries 26(10):18-20, November/December 2006.
Selection: “Although millennials approach things differently, I don’t necessarily believe that we must create interfaces just for them. The progress required in the library Web presence to satisfy the millennials will be well-appreciated by all. We do need to understand that millennials have less of a tolerance for slow, nonintuitive, and unattractive Web sites and will quickly turn to other sources if the library’s doesn’t meet their expectations.”

McAlister, Moyra, Gen Y, inCite (Australian Library and Information Association) 27(10):16, October 2006.
Selection: “For a number of reasons we need to understand and attract Gen Y [millennials]. As managers, we need to attract Gen y because of the shrinking available pool of workers and the ageing population. As employers we are looking for a more complex skill set—because of their varied experience, Gen Y often has this skill set. As service providers, we need to appeal to Gen Y because what is attractive to Gen Y today is attractive to everyone tomorrow.”

Abram, Stephen, Books! Are They Still Important in Special Libraries? Information Outlook (Special Libraries Association) 10(10):40-42, October 2006.
Selection: “The episodic mode of learning is great, especially for adult learners who have a foundation of knowledge on which to build further depth. However, trying to learn a complex topic or new professional competency doesn’t lend itself to this … mode of learning. There are times when we need to learn things in order. So, when one of our clients needs to approach a topic from scratch, we start to think in terms of a format that guides and selects the content in a rational order: a book.” Abram goes on to list new modes of creating booklists—recommenders.

Wilson, Alane, 10 Hot Trends, It’s all good, 3 November 2006, http://scanblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/10-hot-trends.html
Selection: 1. Customer made, 2. Geo-awareness, 3. Thing connection (anytime, anywhere), 4. Virtual worlds—and more.

HAPPY 35TH BIRTHDAY, MEDLINE! and others

2006 is a big year for the US National Library of Medicine and its medical information services. MEDLINE, NLM's flagship database debuted October 27, 1971.
PubMed was first released in January 1996 as an experimental database.
2006 also marks the 170th anniversary of NLM, since its 1836 founding as the Library of the Office of the Surgeon General of the Army.
October 1, 2006 was the 50th anniversary of the passage of the National Library of Medicine Act, which moved the Armed Forces Medical Library to the Public Health Service and rechristened it the National Library of Medicine.

Here are some comparisons betwwen MEDLINE 1971 and MEDLINE 2006:
In 1971,MEDLINE featured 239 indexed journals. By 2006, that number has grown to 4,928.
In 1971, MEDLINE served 25 users. In 2006, MEDLINE/PubMed will average 77 million unique visits in 2006 and about 800 million searches.
In 1971, MEDLINE was available via dial-up telecommunications. In 2006, the site is available to anyone on earth via the World Wide Web.

URL for more detail: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/medline_35th_birthday.html

LIST OF LIBRARY-RELATED CONFERENCES…AND MORE

Marian Dworaczek [University of Saskatchewan Library, Saskatoon, Canada] is constructing a list of library-related conferences. This worldwide list is very comprehensive and includes links to more information on most of the conferences. There is no search function, but you can use your browser’s find function to search it easily. She also has compiled some impressive bibliographies: Electronic Sources of Information (both a bibliography and subject index to the literature), and two on technical services in academic libraries, including outsourcing.

URLs:
Library-Related Conferences: http://library2.usask.ca/~dworacze/CONF.HTM
Electronic Sources of Information:
Bibliography: http://library2.usask.ca/~dworacze/BIBLIO.HTM
Subject Index: http://library2.usask.ca/~dworacze/SUBJIN_A.HTM
Technical Services in Academic Libraries:
Outsourcing: http://library2.usask.ca/~dworacze/OUTSOURCING.HTM
Literature Review: http://library2.usask.ca/~dworacze/TS.HTM

GREAT NEW MEDICAL SEARCH ENGINE, AND ANOTHER ONE TOO

HEALIA is a super new consumer health search engine. It was developed with a grant from the USA National Cancer Institute. It’s only in beta now, but works wonderfully. I did a couple of my favorite searches and got very good, relevant, results.

Results are presented, along with lists of suggested similar, more general, and more specific searches. You can also filter by any one or more of the following: professional; male or female; kids, teens or seniors; African, Asian, Hispanic, or Native heritage; basic or advanced; HONcode, URAC accredited, or privacy policy rated sites; easy to scan, fast loading, for text browsers, or interactive tools. Very impressive.

I also tried another recommended site, Mamma. It is a “smart” metasearch engine, created as a master’s thesis in 1996, and now run by Mamma Media Solutions. It searches most of the major medical sites and the deep web (though it doesn’t exactly how it does it). I performed my two test searches and got fewer good results. The list was preceded by “identified” sponsored links, but I found some questionable links in the rest of the results, too. There are some suggested alternative search topics, but the filters are only found under Power Search. They include choosing directories, indexes, pay-per-click, and adult content reduction. On the whole, a less powerful and desirable site.

URLs:
HEALIA: http://www.healia.com
Mamma: http://www.mamma.com

SLA PROVIDES ACCESS TO RSS FEEDS

The Special Libraries Association announced this week that members can now receive news via an RSS feed on the SLA website. The service is provided by NewsGator and includes feeds on library subjects (education, copyright, careers, competitive intelligence, and technology) and on subjects of interest to our customers. The latter are arranged to correspond to the Divisions in SLA. Note: Solo Librarianship is covered only by the Solos Helping Solos blog, under SLA, but I’ve sent some additional suggestions to Carolyn Sosnowski, who seems to be in charge at SLA HQ.

URL: http://www.sla.org, click on RSS Feed

WHAT DOES A DISTANCE MLIS REALLY COST?

Mary Thompson [Ocean County Library, Island Heights, New Jersey, USA] created a spreadsheet with the cost of distance MLIS programs. She included the in-state and out-of-state tuition and the number of credits required, but did not calculate the total cost. So, I did it. Here are the results:

Cheapest in-state: San Jose State University, $6,300, runner up: Emporia State University, $6,636
Cheapest out-of-state: University of Alabama, $7,640, runner up: San Jose State University, $9,030
Most expensive in-state: Drexel University, $35,100, runner up: Syracuse University, $29,016
Most expensive out-of-state: University of Pittsburgh: $37,980, runner up: Florida State University, $37,206

As you can see, where you go makes quite a bit of difference in cost. However, you should not choose a school based only on cost. Consider the quality of the school and the courses offered—
do they have the courses that will prepare you for the type of librarianship in which you are interested?

If you would like the entire spreadsheet, email me at jsiess@ibi-opl.com and I’ll be happy to send it to you.

URL for Thornton's spreadsheet: http://www.becomealibrarian.org/DistanceEdComparison.htm

WIKIS YOU CAN USE

LISWiki: http://liswiki.org/wiki/Main_Page--Subcategories; information management, issues, librarians, libraries, publications, services, and technology; lists of library-related wikis

Wikinews: http://en.Wikinews.org/--from the Wikimedia Foundation

Wikitravel: http://Wikitravel.org/en/

wikiHow: http://www.wikihow.com--How to do almost anything

WikiLaw: http://www.Wikilaw.org—focus on US law

JurisPedia: http://en.jurispedia.org/index.php/Main_Page—an open legal wiki from the University of Montpellier (France), Can Tho University (Vietnam), Groningen University (The Netherlands), Université du Québec Á Montreal (Canada), and Saarland University (Germany).

Wex: http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/--This law wiki from Cornell University’s Legal Information Institute uses only authors deemed qualified

LawLibWik: http://www.edithis.info/lawlibrary/--law library wiki from Illinois Institute of Technology

HealthLib-Wiki: http://hlWiki.slais.ubc.ca—knowledge-base for health librarians with an international perspective but also emphasizing issues affecting practice in Canada

BE NICE OR ELSE!

Be Nice (or Else!) is a free newsletter that is a great resource on providing customer-focused services and products.

Quote of the day from it: ”Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends. Walt Disney

URL: http://www.beniceorelse.com/newsletter

I AM A LIBRARIAN -- IMAGES

Every wondered what the library blogger looks like? Check out the I am a Librarian blog and the photo gallery. The site is the creation of Cynthia Wilson of PALINET. She is working on a book also to be called I am a Librarian. Sounds like a neat project!

URL: http://www.iamalibrarian.com/gallery2.html

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING RECENTLY

While I was out of town, my to-read pile grew. I’ve just finished reading all of it. Here are some of the most interesting reads.

Vital Pathways for Hospital Librarians, Myths and Truths About Library Services, developed by the Colorado Council of Medical Librarians Advocacy Committee and the Medical Library Association, http://www.mlanet.org/resources/vital/index.html—great ideas for justifying your existence to your boss, even if you don’t work in a hospital.

What is Web 2.0? Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software, by Tim O’Reilly, http://www.oreillynet.com/go/web2—O’Reilly coined the term “Web 2.0” and explains it well here.

These next two were papers presented at the 2006 annual conference of the Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa:

The Nimble Information Adventurer, by Robert McEntyre, http://www.lianza.org.nz/library/files/store_014/NimbleInformation
Adventurer_RMcEntyre.pdf—a look into the information future in Australia and New Zealand.

Next generation libraries need next generation librarians: library training, library education, and continuing professional development, by Alison Fields and Amanda Cossham, http://www.lianza.org.nz/library/files/store_013/NextGenerationLibraries_AFields.pdf
not only what librarians want, but what they need to learn.

Show Your Librarian Some Love, by Todd Gilman, The Chronicle of Higher Education, http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2006/10/2006100301c/careers.html—why faculty don’t appreciate
us and how to improve things.

What’s the Secret? by John R. Di Julius III, http://www.enewsbuilder.net/chartenews/e_article000561514.cfm?x=b11,0,w
what prevents most companies (and libraries) from delivering excellent customer service.

Visions 2020.2: Student Views on Transforming Education and Training Through Advanced Technologies, from the US Departments of Commerce and Education and NetDay, http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/plan/2004/site/documents/visions_20202.pdf—includes the important section, “How Students Want to Learn Using Technology.” Remember, we have to adapt to them, not vice versa.

The Library as Place: The changing nature and appeal of library buildings and spaces, UI (University of Illinois) Current LIS Clips, September 2006, http://clips.lis.uiuc.edu/2006_09.htm—annotated bibliography on this important topic.

Ensuring the Net Generation is Net Savvy, by George Lorenzo and Charles Dziuban, Educause Learning Initiative Paper 2, September 2006, https://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3006.pdf—another article on how we need to work with the next generation of students/customers.

Wiking in your library: a practical overview, by Eugene Barsky, a presentation to the Vancouver Association of Law Libraries, October 2006, http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/physio/barsky-wiki-vall.pdf
just what it says, a practical view of the wiki and the library.

NEWS FROM DOWN UNDER

There is a new OPL/solo group in Australia: ALIA OPALs ACT (Australian Library and Information Association One Person Australian Librarians Australian Capital Territory). More information at http://alia.org.au/groups/opalsact. Welcome!

At their recent annual general meeting, the Australian Law Librarians’ Group voted to change their name to the Australian Law Librarians’ Association. The change was to reinforce their status as a “professional membership association.” See their website at http://www.allg.asn.au/

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS FOR SLA 2007 ANNOUNCED

Former US VP Al Gore will open the Special Libraries Association 2007 Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado. There will also be an all-conference program with Clifford Lynch (Coalition for Networked Information), Tom Hogan, Sr. (Information Today, Inc.—one of my publishers), Eugenie Prime (formerly at Hewlett Packard’s library), and Stephen Abram (VP, Innovation, SirsiDynix and President-elect of SLA)—that should be good! On a lighter note, Dilbert’s creator, Scott Adams, will be the closing keynoter. An interesting mix—I can’t wait—see you there.

DON’T UNDERSTAND WIKIS? LEARN MORE HERE

Why Wiki? is an online video course from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee “to introduce you to the benefits and disadvantages” of wikis. There are four parts: Introduction (28 minutes), Caveats (20 minutes), Comparisons (12 minutes), and Other Wikis (20 minutes). All require high-speed Internet, and Flash (available at the site).

URL: http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/courses/wiki/

ANOTHER LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY BLOG

Library Technology NOW! describes itself as “library technology news and product reviews written by library people for library people.” There is a social networking site, user reviews, and more. All from the Texas Library Association and the North Texas Regional Library System.

URL: http://www.librarytechnologynow.org/

WATCH OUT--STARBUCKS NOW HAS A BOOK CLUB!

The ubiquitous coffee chain, Starbucks, now has a nationwide reading group. The first book discussed is Mitch Albom’s For One More Day, with 25 Starbucks participating. They’re selling the book, too.

If Starbucks can do it, you can too. Read the article by OCLC’s Alice Sneary on how to respond to this.

URLs:
Starbucks’s Book Break: http://starbucks.gather.com/
Sneary: http://scanblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/starbucks-book-break.html

RSS FEEDS FOR FINDING LIBRARY JOBS

Also from Rachel Singer Gordon is a list of library-related job sites with RSS feeds.

URL: http://www.lisjobs.com/jobfeeds.htm

MEDICAL REFERENCE FOR NON-MEDICAL LIBRARIANS

The wonderful David Rothman has put a list of references for librarian not in medical libraries (and medical librarians too) up on his blog. They are super. Thanks, David.

URL: http://davidrothman.net/2006/10/04/medical-reference-for-non-medical-librarians/

LJ’S COMPUTER BOOK REVIEWS NOW ONLINE ONLY

The bad news: Rachel Singer Gordon’s Computer Media book review column and the pre-pub alert column in Library Journal will no longer be published in the magazine. They will be found online only.

The good news: You can now read these reviews even if you are not a subscriber to LJ. Let’s hear it for the Web!

URL: http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6377111.html

ORGANIZE YOUR ACADEMIC PAPERS

CiteULike is a free citation organizer designed for academics. It automatically extracts the citation details so you don’t have to re-enter them. You can also share your set of citations with others and see who else is reading the same articles. The home page shows recent articles posted to the site and lists most active tags.

There is also a list of electronic tables of contents and links to the articles (if you have the right to see them). (Emerald and Elsevier journals are represented.) Another neat feature is the list articles posted by groups on subjects as diverse as bone and soft tissue engineering, biocultural anthropology, and academic librarians. Seems worth a try.

URL: http://www.citeulike.org

NEW SEARCH ENGINE—ACCOONA

I just ran across this new European search engine. Accoona uses artificial intelligence technology of produce “better” searches. You can search in German, English, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, and Portuguese and choose searching on the web, for business information, or for news. My experience with it had mixed results, but try it for yourself.

URL: http://eu.accoona.com/en/

INSTITUTE FOR HEALTHCARE IMPROVEMENT

“The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is a non-for-profit organization leading the improvement of health care throughout the world. IHI was founded in 1991 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.” The website has articles about healthcare improvement, links to resources, and free podcasts. You can also sign up for a free monthly e-newsletter.

URL: http://www.ihi.org/

BLOG ON WI-FI IN LIBRARIES

Wireless Libraries is Bill Drew’s blog “to advance the use of wireless local area networks in libraries.” Most of the posts relate to public libraries, but have relevance to all kinds of libraries. (Drew is associate librarian at Morrisville State College, Morrisville, New York, USA.)

URL: http://wirelesslibraries.blogspot.com/

DEAF RESOURCES LIBRARY

“An online collection of reference material and links intended to educate and inform people about deaf culture in Japan and the United States, as well as deaf and hard of hearing related topics.” Created by Karen Nakamura, assistant professor of Anthroplogy and Asian Studies at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. Includes: organizations, schools and universities, clubs, web resources, deaf kids and their parents, churches and synagogues, interpreting, captioning, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), technology and educational software, news articles about the deaf community, links, mailing lists and ezines, home pages of members of the deaf community, and deaf-owned businesses.

URL: http://www.deaflibrary.org/

FREE RESOURCES FROM ASKSAM

askSam, the database producer, has made a free searchable health news archive available. You can limit the search by title and/or date range. This joins their other free archives: FDA News and Recall Information, Country codes, Area codes, and Photography Dictionary and their scores of free e-books, legal texts and codes, US government reports, and political documents. The software to use them is also free.

URL: http://www.asksam.com/health/

CLINICAL CASES AND IMAGES

The blog of ClinicalCases.org (A Case-Based Curriculum of Clinical Medicine)with medical, tech and other interesting stories. Most of the contributors to the website are physicians at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation or Case Western Reserve University (St. Vincent/St. Lukes) Internal Medicine Residency Program (the blog is maintained by Dr. Vesselin Dimov). Has links to section on cardiology, pulmonology and critical care, endocrinology, gastroenterology, infectious diseases, nephrology, hematology/oncology, rheumatology, neurology, mnemonics, clinical notes, IT in medicine, travel, and other. A super resource!

URLs:
Blog: http://casesblog.blogspot.com/
WikiKidney: http://wikikidney.org/index.php/Main_Page
List of medical abbreviations and acronyms: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_abbreviations

RESOURCES FOR TEACHING AMERICAN HERITAGE

The Smithsonian Institution has a website with resources for teaching Black History, Women’s History, Hispanic Heritage, American Indian Heritage, and about Asian-Pacific Americans. There are articles, information about museums, and photographs.

While you’re there, check out the Smithsonian’s resources for families and students, too.

URL: http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/resource_library/
heritage_resources.html

MY POSTS NOW HAVE LABELS

Since I am now using the updated Blogger, you'll notice that the posts have labels. I've added them to some of the older posts, too. To see all the posts with a specific label, just click on the label name. Let me know if you like this.

THREE INTERESTING WEBSITES

Nursery Rhymes: Lyrics and Origins

Did you know that the nursery rhyme Ring around the Rosy originated during the period of the bubonic plague and the words describe the symptoms and progress of the disease? This and more on this fascinating site.

URL: http://www.rhymes.org.uk/

oandp.com Resources: "the Global Resource for Orthotics and Prosthetics." Includes organizations and publications serving amputees, Web sites and articles about technical and fabrication issues, a collection of patient profiles from many different sites, sports organizations and coverage of related events, patient care facilities, practitioner, technician and associate training and residency programs, news of research, and upcoming seminars, courses and other events.

URL: http://www.oandp.com/resources/

World Legal Information Institute. “Free, independent and non-profit access to worldwide law.” Access to 675 databases from 86 countries including 21 international databases in collaboration with members of the Free Access to Law Movement.

URL: http://www.worldlii.org/

SCIENCE MYTHS DEBUNKED

The Most Popular Myths in Science

Very short factoids about myths like how long it takes to digest gum, whether chicken soup cures the common cold, and a cats' ability to always land on their feet.

URL: http://www.livescience.com/bestimg/result.php?back=myths_gumballs_03.jpg&cat=myths

FORMATTING PROBLEMS FIXED

You may notice that the formatting problem is solved. I did this by switching to the new version of Blogger (beta).

RSS TUTORIALS FOR LAW LIBRARIANS

RJason Eiseman [Computer Automation Librarian, Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt, Portland, Oregon, USA] has create a RSS tutorial for law librarians. He writes, "Really the first two parts of the tutorial can be applied to anyone interested in learning more about RSS. Part 3 deals with RSS feeds for information of particular interest to law librarians, but can be applied to just about anyone as well." The tutorials require Flash, but are well worth looking at.

URL: http://www.schwabe.com/library/rss_tutorials.htm

MEDICAL INFORMATION LIABILITY

More than just the evidence, Clinical Evidence, 19 October 2006

URL:http://clinicalevidence.blogspot.com/2006/10/more-than-just-evidence.html

The enigmatic BeckyJ, a medical librarian in Nashville, Tennessee (USA) mused about the liability librarians might face when giving customers information. Here is just a bit of the post.

"When we talk about clinical librarianship and the role of the librarian in selecting the 'best' articles, in terms of both methodological rigor and relevance to a given clinical context, it's not uncommon that we also think about liability concerns; when the librarian takes a more involved and active role in synthesizing the medical literature for a clinical question, fulfilling an 'evidence consultant' role for clinicians, what is his or her potential liability for this information selection process?

"Some libraries have developed disclaimers that accompany their literature searches, bibliographies, etc, attempting to address this issue, perhaps most commonly characterizing the literature search process (selection decisions, database choices, related concepts of possible interest) and containing a phrase to the effect of '...more information available on request.'

When I saw the headline for this Science Blog posting, I realized that it sums up my feelings about such liability concerns—'Evidence informs decisions but can’t make them.' Given our training as experts in searching the literature and identify key items related to a given topic/question, we provide information to support decision making. The clinician takes the articles, studies, reports, reviews etc, incorporates that data with his or her clinical expertise and the wishes of the patient, and makes a decision about the best course of action for that patient. I don't feel that I provide answers to clinical questions, but tools to aid clinicians with arriving at their own answers for clinical challenges."

WHAT WE'RE REALLY ABOUT...

New skills, new services, new opportunities, by Jill Stover [Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA], Library Marketing: Thinking Outside the Book, 18 October 2006

URL: http://librarymarketing.blogspot.com/2006/10/new-skills-new-services-new.html

Stover always has great ideas..here is her take on what business we're really in. (Don't forget to read her entire post....)

"Librarians, I've argued, aren't in the information warehousing business - we're in the improving people's lives business. We help people find, evaluate, and use information so that they can accomplish those things that are meaningful to them. Those "things" could be learning a new skill, completing major research projects, learning about a new or personally interesting topic, finding employment, doing self-exploration, filling in the family tree, communicating with friends, creating works of art or any one of countless activities that enrich patrons' lives. How exactly we go about our life-improvement business is changing. Patrons want and expect different things from us and they have more alternatives than they did in the past. These changes may be a little scary because they create a lot of uncertainty, but they are also incredibly exciting because they give us the opportunity to find new ways to apply our talents and resources. And we're not the only ones doing a lot of introspection these days.

"John Jantsch of the Duct Tape Marketing blog, offers the following bit of advice (http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/weblog.php?id=P762), 'This principle is one that every business can and should think long and hard about. How can you become more valuable to your clients. What can you offer to do, even if it's not really your job, that would help them be more successful, get better results, solve more problems. Do that, and you will find the universe will make you more successful in the process.'

"We're not alone in confronting the question of how to redefine ourselves given the realities of the modern marketplace. Some of what we've always done will remain, but I believe that librarians will have to develop new skills (like marketing?) and uncover new opportunities to turn our stuff into meaning for patrons. We will have to become adept at finding ways of helping our patrons be successful in their pursuits. Doing so means that we will have to leave our comfort zones, continually refresh our skills, and become indispensable partners with our patrons. Our success, it seems, is directly linked to our patrons' success."

PRACTICING MEDICAL REFERENCE

Excerpts from Practicing Medical Reference, by Mary Carmen Chimato, medlibrarian.net, 17 October 2006, URL: http://medlibrarian.net/archives/54

"As a rule, I don’t complete students’ assignments for them (neither does my colleague). I will give them all the help they need, I will even do some hand holding if necessary, but I will never take the assignment sheet, sit down at the computer and conduct the search for them. These are mainly graduate students in the health sciences - they should do their own homework and I strongly believe that they need to learn how to search the medical and health sciences literature.

"Some of our students will not work in large, university hospitals with the benefit of a medical library at their disposal. Some will work in small hospitals that only have Internet access. Some may work in an environment where they have no Internet access. I like to empower the students by showing how to effectively search PubMed. As the largest free biomedical database, this may be the only database they have access to, so learning how to get to the information they need is extremely important.

"The only times I have flat out conducted a full-on database search for someone is when a doctor has come down to the library in scrubs, (this has happened more than once or twice), or about to go into surgery and needs to find out something immediately.

"I think medical librarians remain important when they empart their skills and knowledge to others through instruction and training, not by mechanically answering question after question after question. Anyone can pretend to do that well, but by showing our patrons what we do is a skill and takes time and practice to get really good at doing, they value us more. "

SOME OF THE TWENTY TECH TRAINING TIPS

Rob Coers and Michael Stephens gave a presentation at ILI2006 in which they presented Twenty Tech Training Tips. Here are just a few of them.

"Make training part of your change management strategy."

"Be enthusiastic."

"Emphasize how technology helps the use solve his or her problems (the personal approach)."

"Encourage “playing” with the tools; give them a place online to play (“sandbox”) and the tools (“gadget garage”)."

URL: http://www.tametheweb.com/ili2006/CoersStephensTechTraining.ppt

HOW TO TEACH PEOPLE HOW TO USE THE LIBRARY

To Give the Fish or to Teach People How to Fish, by Ivan Chew, Rambling Librarian: Incidental Thoughts of a Singapore Liblogarian, 15 October 2006

I really like what Chew has to say. Here is just some of the article--you should read the whole thing!

"Do we instantly gratify to help the client get what they need or do we teach to enable them to learn how to get more.

"Increasingly we are faced with clients that want the piece of information they want and nothing else.

"We ALL live in an age of "instant gratification" and will continue to do so. Unless Internet Technology collapses, and/ or Google closes down, people will tend to want 'answers now.’

"Even if the customer knows how to fish, they will still want to find cheaper, faster and 'good enough' ways because they'd rather be doing something else.

"We still need to 'teach people how to fish,' but in order to have them want to stay and listen, we must "give them the fish".

"Most library customers these days will search for information on the Internet, and then ask friends or colleagues before they ask librarians (if they do at all). Suppose they approach librarians after that. Instead of getting direct information or answers, they get more instructions, which in their minds could be just more of the same of what they have tried to do earlier."

URL: http://ramblinglibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/10/
to-give-fish-or-to-teach-people-how-to.html

LA OF SINGAPORE'S BLOG

The Library Association of Singapore now has a blog.

URL: http://SingaporeLibrariesBulletin.wordpress.com

RESOURCES FOR PRISON LIBRARIANS

PRISON-LIB (http://www.neflin.org/prison-lib/FAQ.html), the prison librarians’ listserv?)

Library services to adult prisoners in the United States: a good intro and a well-sourced paper, http://www.ib.hu-berlin.de/%7Elibreas/libreas_neu/ausgabe6/003shir.htm

Three Experts Describe How to be a Successful Prison Librarian: Preparation for a Foreign Land, published by the Association for Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies, a division of ALA, Interface 25(3), 2003, http://www.ala.org/ala/ascla/asclapubs/interface/archives/contentlistingby/volume25/successprisonlib/howsuccessful.htm

(From Jessamyn West, librarian.net, 17 October 2006.

Library Use Value Calculator

What is your library worth to you?
How much would you pay (or your organization)out-of-pocket for your library’s services?
An online spreadsheet developed by the Massachusetts Library Association and adapted for the web by Chelmsford Public Library, will help you (or your customers) discover how valuable the library can be. You could adapt it for your own library.

URL: http://www.maine.gov/msl/services/calculator.htm

Apology for formatting problems

For some reason my formatting isn't working right. I'll get it fixed, but right now I think it's better to get the info out to you.

Top 10 Research Tools, from CNET

Check out CNET's top 10 list--note that number one is not digital. Interesting....


1. Encyclopedia Britannica 2007, digital version US$49 plus online access
2. Wikipedia, for when you don’t find anything in EB (http://en.wikipedia.org/)
3. FeedDemon 2, RSS reader, US$29, customizable, (http://www.newsgator.com/NGOLProduct.aspx?ProdID=FeedDemon)
4. Diigo beta, free bookmarking service that lets you highlight text and comment on Web pages, works with Del.icio.us (http://www.diigo.com, http://del.icio.us)
5. Google Scholar beta, find abstracts and some full text journal articles, points to libraries that have the hardcopy. (http://scholar.google.com/)
6. Google Book Search, read the entire text of books in the public domain. (http://books.google.com)
7. Yahoo Answers, ask experts for research help, but you might hit an amateur, so be on guard. (http://answers.yahoo.com)
8. Windows Live Local, for its innovations and ability to mark locations with pushpins. (http://local.live.com)
9. Google Earth 4, you can add your own landmarks. (http://earth.google.com)
10. Google Home, organizes your newsfeeds, site bookmarks, maps, stock quotes, e-books, podcasts, calculators, and much more into a sign-in screen accessible wherever you go. (http://www.google.com/ig)
11. Google Search, the No. 1 search engine, which gets more powerful the more people use it. (http://www.google.com)


URL for the article: http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-9239_7-6654999-1.html

WORLD USABILITY DAY

November 14 is World Usability Day. Look for events in your area. Some may be sponsored by the Usability Professionals Association.
URLs:
World Usability Day: http://www.worldusabilityday.org/
Usability Professionals Association: http://www.upassoc.org/

I'M BACK---DID YOU MISS ME?

I'm sorry I forgot to tell you all that I'd be away for a while. I was on vacation--visiting family and friends in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri (where I talked to the local SLA group on time management); Memphis, Tennessee; (I've lived in all of the above) Alexandria and Madisonville, Louisiana; and Atlanta, Georgia. 3100 miles in 16 days. Now I'm home until the second week of December (when I'm off to DISNEYWORLD!)

ALSO FOUND ON THE WEB

Getting Clued in to Experience Management

The Shifted Librarian, 27 September 2006, http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2006/09/27/20060927_02_mla2006_getting_clued_in_to_experience_management.html

Notes from an MLA event. “Attitudes are important and drive behaviors, but what drives attitudes are emotions. How does this organization make me feel?”


Top 10 Uses for RSS in Law Firms

Vancouver Law Librarian blog, 26 September 2006,
http://vancouverlawlib.blogspot.com/2006/09/top-10-uses-for-rss-in-law-firms.html
Hint: number one is current awareness.


Articles that Law Libraries are Writing and Publishing in Legal Publications
American Association of Law Libraries website, http://baseportal.com/cgi-bin/baseportal.pl?htx=/Publishing_Initiatives/main
There were 101 on the list as of September 2006. Gives author, title, publications, date, and subject. Very impressive list compiled by the Publishing Initiatives Caucus.
See also http://www.aallnet.org/caucus/pic/chapters.htm for list of articles written by members of AALL’s various chapters.


Making the best use of medical librarians

Article by Helen Elwell, British Medical Journal 333(7568):108, 2006. Free download of .pdf file at http://careerfocus.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/333/7568/108
This is a wonderful article!


Week 6 Thing 15: Library 2.0

Learning Express blog, 22 September 2006, http://learningexpress.blogspot.com/2006/09/week-6-thing-15-library-20.html

Thoughts on Library 2.0 by Lori Reed [Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County North Carolina, USA]. Quote: “Why not let Kinko’s set up a copy and print shop in a small corner of the library?”

See also http://questinglibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/09/15-library-20-more-than-teen-gaming.html for Library 2.0—More Than Teen Gaming Night, which started Lori thinking on this subject. Quote: “make the library where you want to be in real life.”

FORTUNE 500 DATABASE

“A database of every year of Fortune’s list of America’s largest corporations,” this searchable database covers the years 1955-2005. A search yields the years that the company appeared on the list. Clicking on the year gives a profile of the company, including rank, financial data, number of employees, and earnings. There’s also a database of the Global 500 as well. The database is downloadable, too.


URL: http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/fortune/archive_search.jsp

THE MILITARY BLOGOSPHERE

MILblogging.com is a blog dedicated to keeping track of blogs relating to or by the military. As of 21 September 2006 there were 1508 blogs in 28 countries listed.


URL: http://www.milblogging.com/

WHEN SHOULD I GO TO THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT?

The American College of Emergency Physicians has put together a one page handout to help health consumers decide whether their condition is serious enough to go to the emergency room. It also has a list of items to bring with you for better care.


URL:

http://www.acep.org/webportal/PatientsConsumers/
HealthSubjectsByTopic/emcare/whentogotoed.htm

ARE YOU EATING RIGHT?

The World’s Healthiest Foods is a website from the non-profit George Mateljan Foundation. There’s a food of the week, food tip of the week, and recipe of the week, backed up by “100 Quick and Easy Recipes” and cooking lessons. Each day there is a suggested menu with recipes. There is also a question and answer section and a section listing 130 healthy foods (defined as nutrient-dense, whole, familiar, readily available, affordable, and tasting good) along with detailed health benefits, nutrient analysis, description, history, how to select and store, how to enjoy, safety, and list of articles on the food.


URL: http://www.whfoods.com

A WEBLOG ABOUT MAPS

The Map Room has been around since March 2003, but I just came across it. It is run by a website developer who created it as a self-education exercise. The blog includes information on new sources, books about maps, collections, etc. and is interesting reading.


URL: http://www.mcwetboy.net/maproom

LOOKING FOR A PICTURE?

Pixsy is a new search-engine just for photos. Their “goal is to collect, index, and organize the millions of photos and videos being added to the Internet each day.” And they’re doing a great job. You can search by category (world news, sports, celebrities, politics, science news, travel, etc.), by provider (BBC, CNN, Metacafe, MSNBC, New York Times, Reuters, USAToday, YouTube and more). You can also choose from the top photos and videos in the news, sports, music, and celebrity categories. The interface is also very attractive and easy to use.


URL: http://www.pixsy.com

TWO GREAT HOMEMADE LIBRARY VIDEOS

YouTube is the most popular video-sharing website. Searching for “librarian” or “librarians,” I found nearly 200 videos. (Searching for “library” produces over 2900 hits, but I found that most are of high school kids just goofing around.) There are two that are especially good and could be duplicated or emulated by any librarian.


1. The adventures of super librarian. This short video was made by the McCracken County Public Library in Paducah, Kentucky. The description reads: “Faster than free internet, More powerful than a stack of reference books, Protector of Knowledge and Free Entertainment.” It is cute and provides a good image of librarians.


2. Ray of Light, St. Joseph County Public Library Version. “This video was created for library staff in service day at the St. Joseph County Public Library in South Bend, Indiana by Dale Kerkman, Bob Lewandowski, Michael Stephens and Adam Tarwacki. Set to Madonna's [song] Ray of Light and inspired by the video of the song, this video details a day in the life of a thriving public library system, highlighting the faces and places that make the library the library.” Stephens said that it was designed to show the staff and public that the entire staff is important in providing service to library customers. It is well done, if a bit long. You could do something similar to show your customers all that you do and introduce your staff (if you have one).


URL: http://www.youtube.com

INFORMATION FROM THE USA NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE

The Fall 2006 issue of MedlinePlus magazine, from the US National Academy of Medicine, is available at http://www.fnlm.org/magazine/autumn2006.pdf. Included is an overview of NLM and the NIH Quickfinder, links to NIH’s institutes and offices nationwide. You can subscribe to the free magazine at http://www.fnlm.org/join.pdf.


Also available from NLM are the comments from the Director, Dr. Donald Lindberg. His weekly report is available at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/directorscomments.html and can be downloaded as a mp3 file or a text transcript. You can also subscribe to the podcasts.


Thanks to the blog Clinical Evidence, Searching Tidbits, and Other Minutiae for this link. You can find the blog at http://clinicalevidence.blogspot.com.

TWO GOOD USES OF TECHNOLOGY FOR YOUR LIBRARY

There is a lot of new technology out there. But which are really appropriate for your OPL—or small library, or even large library? Here are two that I think deserve strong consideration.


Internal, project-specific blogs. Nicole Engard [Jenkins Law Library, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA] is quoted by Michael Stephens on use of project-specific blogs at her library. This concept is more like an online filing cabinet that is accessible by multiple people.


URLs:

Stephens’s post: http://tametheweb.com/2006/09/ltr_update_internal_blogs.html

Engard’s post: http://www.web2learning.net/archives/535


Stephens also highlighted the use of flickr to provide a virtual tour of a library. He links to the one of the Lackman Branch of the Johnson County (Kansas) Library. Any librarian with a digital camera could do the same for customers off-site.


URLs:

Stephens’s post: http://tametheweb.com/2006/09/ttw_mailbox_virtual_tours_with.html

Lackman tour: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11329886@N00/sets/72157594291410121/

TWO “DICTIONARIES” OF INTERNET ACRONYMS AND EMOTICONS

I just found this article from PC World, LOL :) -- A Guide to Internet Lingo and Emoticons. James A. Martin put together both acronyms and smileys in the following categories: Everyday Acronyms: Coming and Going, Hooting and Hollering, Exotic Acronyms, Acronyms We Wish Existed (and Possibly Do), Everyday Emoticons, Favorite Exotic Emoticons, and More Shorthand Slang Online. There are nice descriptions of each entry.


For a more complete list, try NetLingo. It has a searchable data base including acronyms and other abbreviations for text messaging and IM, smileys and emoticons, top 20 lists (acronyms every parent needs to know, tech terms that are now common expressions, and newbie terms everyone needs to know), file extensions, country codes, and more. You can also download the entire thing as an e-book (US$25) or PDF (US$10).


URLs:

LOL: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,88686-page,1/article.html

NetLingo: http://www.netlingo.com/index.cfm

EQUATION AND SCORE CALCULATOR FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS

MDCalc gives physicians and other medical professionals an easy way to calculate medical equations and scores—and now has the international SI units as well. (Caution—“all calculations must be re-checked by hand and should not be used alone to guide patient care.”)


Some of the equations are: abs neutrophil count, Bayes sensitivity and specificity, Cardiac output (Fick), Oxygenation index, and Winter’s formula. The scores included are: APGAR, Cardiac risk (Framingham) PORT score/CAP risk, Glasgow coma score, MELD score, Ranson’s pancreatitis mortality, Strep probabilility, TIMI Scores for UA/NSTEMI and STEMI, and Well’s criteria for PE.


URL: http://www.mdcalc.com/si/

LISTENING TO STUDENT VOICES—ON TECHNOLOGY

Michael Stephens brought my attention to this report from Education|Evolving, a partnership of the Center for Policy Studies and Hamline University (Minnesota). Listening to Student Voices—on Technology presents 15 findings, but these are the ones most of interest to librarians.



Students are sophisticated users (duh!)

In-school access to technology is limited and its corollary, Home use dominates.

Computers and the Internet are communications tools, first.

Students want adults to move beyond using the “Internet for Internet’s sake.”



And the most important finding: Technology has caused students to approach life differently; but adults act as though nothing has changed.



You may also want to look at the “Vision 2020.2” report on Student Views on Transforming Education and Training Through Advanced Technologies (suggested by a commenter on Stephens’s blog. There are some really good ideas for library technology here.



URLs:

Education|Evolving: http://www.educationevolving.org/

The report: http://www.educationevolving.org/studentvoices/pdf/tech_savy_students.pdf

Stephens’s post: http://tametheweb.com/2006/09/listening_to_student_voices_fr.html

“Vision 2020.2” report: http://www.netday.org/SPEAKUP/pdfs/Visions2020-2.pdf

blog@your library

blog@your library is the new blog from the Sydney campus of Curtin University of Technology in Australia. It is very attractive and has some wonderful posts.


URL: http://library.curtin.edu.au/blogs/

NEW ZEALAND PARLIAMENT’S NEW WEBSITE

The Parliament of New Zealand has a very well designed new website. Included are: How Parliament works, Parliamentary business, Select committees, MPs and parties, This week, Publications and research, History and buildings, and Explore Parliament. There is also a good FAQ (frequently asked questions) page, with answers to questions such as How can I find out the name of my member of Parliament? How can I contact a member of Parliament? Can I take photographs or film inside Parliament Buildings? Which leads to…Do I need permission to have my wedding photographs taken in Parliament grounds? Do I need permission to hold a protest in the grounds of Parliament? How do I find out about getting a job at Parliament? Finally, there’s a link to the Parliamentary Information Service for questions not answered by the website.


URL: http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ

FREE PUBLICITY IDEAS FROM THE WORLD ALMANAC

Looking for a source of publicity or promotion ideas for your library? The free World Almanac E-Newsletter has lots of good ideas for you. Each monthly issue contains: events for the month, both USA and international; this day in history for each day of the month; birthdays of celebrities that month, and obituaries for the previous month. There are also special features, offbeat news stories, links, quotes, and other interesting but not too useful stuff. To see a sample, go to http://www.worldalmanac.com/newsletter/
200609WAE-Newsletter.html. To subscribe, send an e-mail to: newsletter@waegroup.com with the subject line reading "SUBSCRIBE."

BLOGGING LIBRARY DIRECTORS

Library Director is a wiki on Blog Without a Library that lists blogs by library directors or administrators blogging “from the administrative point of view at any type of library.” There are only a few places listed, in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ontario (Canada), Belgium, and France. Predictably, nearly all of the directors are in public libraries, but there is one school library, five universities, and two state librarians represented. These are well worth looking at.


URL:
http://www.blogwithoutalibrary.net/links/index.php?title=Library_director

EVIDENCE BASED LIBRARY AND INFORMATION PRACTICE

The third issue of the journal Evidence Based Library and Information Practice is available now from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. There are some very interesting articles in this issue. Abstracts and full-text are available online.


URL:
http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP

LIBRARIES USING EVIDENCE

From the University of Newcastle (Australia), a list of resources for evidence-based library and information practice. Includes a blog, a toolkit, events, current projects and publications, and recent articles of interest. A great resource!

URL: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/library/gosford/ebl/

HOW TO DO (ALMOST) ANYTHING

I want to: How to do the things you want to do, posted by Phil Bradley, includes everything from Web 2.0 social community programs to the just plain fun Sticky Map, Catalog Card Generator, and Comic Strip Generator.


URLs:

I want to: http://philbradley.typepad.com/i_want_to/

Sticky Map: http://www.stickymap.com/

Catalog Card Generator: http://www.blyberg.net/card-generator/

Comic Strip Generator: http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/

LIBRARY TECH CONFIDENTIAL BLOG

Greg Smith, library student at Seneca College [Toronto, Ontario, Canada], has a nice blog, Library Tech Confidential. He writes, "Most of what you’ll find here consists of links and snippets from library, publishing, or information management-related articles I’ve encountered on the web, but some original commentary bubbles up to the surface every now and then. While I maintain this site essentially as a memory-aide of sorts, others with similar interests may find it useful." There's some really nice stuff here.


URL:
http://libtechconfidential.com/

CANADIAN PARLIAMENT IN SESSION--HOW TO KEEP UP

Michel-Adrien Sheppard, alias Library Boy, reminds us that the Canadian Library of Parliament LEGISinfo servicewill allow people to track bills, follow parliamentary debates, gain access to background documents and additional reading material on legislative proposals, find voting information as well as up-to-date details about the coming into force of bills that are passed by the 2 Houses of the federal Parliament.

As well, it is possible to track bills via RSS feeds. See Sheppard's post for the details.

URL:

LEGISinfo: http://www.parl.gc.ca/LEGISINFO/index.asp?Language=E

Sheppard's post: http://micheladrien.blogspot.com/2006/09/canadian-parliament-back-in-session.html

MARYLAINE BLOCK ON LIBRARY SIGNS

Marylaine Block has a wonderful article in the latest (15 September) issue of ExLibris: an E-Zine for Librarians and Other Information Junkies. It is on signs in the library. Here are a few excerpts, but you should read the entire thing. (http://marylaine.com/exlibris/xlib287.html)


“The sign makes perfect sense to you, not because of what it says, but because you are mentally filling in the blanks in what it does not say.”

“users of the Seattle Public Library have been having [trouble] trying to find restrooms, copy machines, and even the way out. People have been so confused that librarians hired a professional ‘wayfinder’ ‘ to show them how to improve their directional signs.”

“It's also the same sort of problem many users have trying to follow written instructions on how to use the internet and library databases.”

"The problem is that the person making the signs knows “too much about the [subject] and therefore cannot think about them as their users will.”

“One cure, it seems to me, is enlisting users early on in the design process. You could, for instance, put up dummy signs and building maps before you order the professional ones. Test them by bringing in some users for a private showing…. Observe where their eyes go as they're looking for signs and maps and other clues. Are those the places where you've posted signs?

“Alternatively, you could do what librarians at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh did after they remodeled the first floor of their building: watch users as they navigate through new or remodeled buildings to see the places at which they stop, stare, and try to figure out what to do next. At each of those confusion points, librarians posted either signs or staff.”

To solve the problem of using databases, Block suggests you “show students how to use the databases and then ask them to write instructions for other students. Why? Because they won't mentally fill in the blanks like we do. They know from experience the ways in which the search interface doesn't make sense, and they will tackle those problems head on.”

Another approach: “you might spend some time analyzing the dumb questions you get. If people keep asking you where the copy machine is when they're standing right by a sign for the copiers, you just might have a problem with either the wording or placement of that sign.”

GOOD STUFF!!

NEW EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE BLOG

CCE Resource News is a new blog from Catherine Voutier of the Centre for Clinical Effectiveness, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, Victoria, Australia. CCE works with clinicians and consumers to find and implement the best available evidence in health care settings. CCE also works collaboratively with Southern Health to put evidence into practice in an acute health care setting.


Recent posts include: assessment tools, CHE critical appraisal tools, preventing medication errors, cost and economic search strategies in EMBASE, guideline development methods, supercourse in epidemiology, herbal databases, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, evidence-based practices in mental health, and finding peer-reviewed articles.


URL: http://cceresourcenews.blogspot.com/

HOW FRIENDLY IS YOUR DONATIONS POLICY?

David Cornwall [Juneau, Alaska, USA], blogging at Alaskan Librarian called our attention to the gift policy of the Seldovia Public Library. He likes it--and I do too--because it words the policy in very positive terms. “So if your gifts policy is in need of revision, or you’re looking for a way to avoid saying, ‘No! We don’t want any!’ check out what Seldovia Public Library is doing.”


Here are some excerpts from their policy (all emphasis mine).


While the library is very pleased to receive donations of books that expand our collection in identified areas of need or that can be sold to augment our grant funding, there are things donors can do to help us take best advantage of your donations.” The donor becomes a partner with the library in order to maximize his or her donation.


Other recipients might be better able to make better use of your donations, and we can help guide you to some of these.” Much better than, “we don’t want.”


To get donors to call first, and not leave items outside, they give an example. “Recently, a very large donation was left outside the library, without notice, for days…the books became weather-damaged as well as suffering from the territorial marking practices of local dogs. Would you want to read these books or have your children read them? What a sad waste, and one that could have been prevented with a phone call.” Gives an example and states the requested action.


“These are some donation types we welcome” and “These are some donation types that we regretfully cannot make use of.” A very positive introductions to their itemized lists.


URLs:

Cornwall’s article:

http://alaskanlibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/09/seldovia-has-friendly-and-reasonable.html

Alaskan Librarian:
http://alaskanlibrarian.blogspot.com/

Seldovia’s donation policy:

http://seldovialibrary.blogspot.com/2006/09/help-us-make-best-use-of-your.html

SUPPORT FOR US EPA LIBRARIES—TOO LATE?

The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility have release a wonderful memo voicing support for the libraries of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Agency is closing the libraries in a budget move. See the entire memo at http://www.peer.org/news/print_detail.php?row_id=735.

NEWSLETTER ON IMPROVING PATIENT SAFETY

Patient Safety Link is “a [free] monthly newsletter for health care professionals dedicated to improving patient safety” from the Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety. The August 2006 issue had articles on Identifying Impaired Physicians: How to address problem physicians quickly, Civility in the Health Care Workplace: Strategies for Eliminating Disruptive Behavior, and Defensive Medicine: Physicians’ fear of lawsuits may affect treatment.” Signup by sending a message to patientsafetylink@jcrinc.com.

TEACHING ENGLISH, UK STYLE

The Teaching English website is a co-production between the British Broadcasting Corporation and the British Council and is designed for non-native speaker teachers of English working predominantly in secondary education. The site acts as a forum for teachers to exchange ideas, as a resource for teaching materials, and as an archive of teaching ideas and techniques.

The site is divided into three main sections: Think: Teachers' articles on different aspects of teaching; Try: practical activities to download; and Talk: idea sharing. There is even an RSS feed for updates.

URL:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/

MICROSOFT OPENS SCHOOL--WITHOUT A LIBRARY

School District of Philadelphia and Microsoft Open School of the Future—WITHOUT A LIBRARY

Excerpted from and with comments from Judith A. Siess, Editor, The One-Person Library newsletter, from the press release at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/sep06/09-06MSPhiladelphiaSOFPR.mspx

Opened in Philadelphia 7 September 2006, “the School of the Future is the result of a unique collaboration between the School District of Philadelphia, Microsoft Corp. and the community of West Philadelphia that will deliver a new approach to curriculum and school design and the infusion of technology into the daily lives of educators and learners.” It features “a progressive and research-based curriculum, integrated technology, and environmentally advanced architecture…within the strict confines of a standard urban public-school budget.”

The school has 170 freshman students who will make up the first School of the Future graduating class of 2010. They were chosen in a lottery from the local neighborhood and are 99 percent minority and 85 percent low income.

“The School of the Future project has created education-specific tools for school administrators, faculty and the community in which they live and work.” They include smart-card-accessible lockers, a tablet PC for every student, wireless access at school and broadband access at home, software such as the Virtual Teaching Assistant, media-rich classrooms and the Interactive Learning Center, which replaces the traditional library—allowing content to be constantly updated, in essence creating textbooks with local, regional and global information that is always refreshed and never out of date.” (emphasis mine)

More detail on the library “alternative:” (all emphasis and comments—in brackets—are mine)
“Unencumbered access [does that mean no mean librarians to deny access to materials?] to expertise will be gained by providing learners and teachers with access to streaming media content on a variety of subjects, from a variety of content experts. No longer limited due to their location, these experts can be brought into the classroom, or home, whenever the learner or teacher needs access to them [library materials aren’t portable??].

ILC replaces traditional library (and textbook use). Students can access resources throughout the building and from home. The ILC allows for community members to access these resources as well. [Libraries are open to the community, too.]

Space is designed to support ad-hoc collaboration and informal learning opportunities. [Libraries are getting to this—the concept of library as place.]

A complete multimedia encyclopedia and study tools will be installed on students’ computers for use at all times. [Most libraries have 24x7 access to their reference works via their website.]

Students will be able to customize their portal to give them content that is immediate and relevant. [Immediate, yes; relevant, maybe; but what about reliable and accurate?]


Final comments

Isn’t Microsoft being self-serving?! By eliminating the library and having the students rely totally on online materials, they ensure a steady supply of customers. But does teaching them that “everything is online and it is free”—from MS of course, help the students in the long run? Of course not.

By relying totally on the Web, the students learn to accept whatever they find, without examining the source or reliability of the material. And what of the students “unlucky” enough to work in a organization without such free and easy access to the Web? Will they know how to find information in any other way? Will they know that they can find reliable, free information at their local library (public or otherwise)?

What Microsoft is really creating, rather than educated citizens, is a populace that knows only one way to find information—the Microsoft way. Good for Microsoft, bad for society.

For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/education/SchoolofFuture.mspx

YES, YOU CAN HAVE FUN WITH GOOGLE

Philipp Lenssen has written a book called 55 Ways to Have Fun With Google: A cabinet of search engine curiosities, riddles, games, and a little bit of usefulness. The book contains over 220 pages and is available to buy at Lulu.com for US$16.50 or Amazon for US$19.66.T It also is available for free downloading (.pdf or Word format). Also take a look at his daily weblog, Google Blogoscoped.

The book is interesting, but the best part may be the Glossary in the back.

URLs:

download the book: http://www.55fun.com/

Google Blogoscoped: http://blog.outer-court.com

A Short Reading List for Managers

Ivan Chew had a good post with some books worth reading. See the list at http://rawnotes.blogspot.com/2004/08/short-reading-list-for-managers-on.html

Websites for Students

Here are some sites your students, or children of your customers, may find useful--courtesy of the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Los Angeles Times.


Internet Public Library, http://www.ipl.org, The University of Michigan has now been joined by 14 other schools in this wonderful venture.


Spark Notes, http://www.sparknotes.com, Like a Cliff’s Notes, but also has reference guides to other topics. And the real Cliff’s Notes is at http://www.cliffsnotes.com.


How Stuff Works, http://www.howstuffworks.com, As the article said, “great for science reports.”


Atlas of Human Anatomy, http://www.anatomyatlases.org, “Fantastic images of human body parts.”


Biology portal from the University of Arizona, http://www.innerbody.com


Periodic Table, http://www.chemicalelements.com


Conversion tables, http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/conversions.html—but remember that Google can make a lot of conversions for you.


Verb conjugations, http://www.verbix.com/webverbix/index.asp


Algebra Help, http://www.algebrahelp.com, practice problems.

Attention European Medical Librarians: EAHIL Membership is Now Free!

Membership in the European Association for Health Information and Libraries is now free—at least for “European members.” Non-European members must, unfortunately, still pay, but it’s a small price (€50) for their very good Journal. For instance, the current issue is all (and I do mean all) about Evidence-Based Medicine and is very useful. There’s a great article on “How to Make Evidence-Based Medicine Work for You” by Tom Jefferson of Rome, Italy, and another on “Where’s the Harm in EBLIP? Current Perspectives, Future Developments, by Andrew Booth of Sheffield, England.


URL for EAHIL: http://www.eahil.net

Legal Research Guides: Finding Facts and Statistical Resources

These are two wonderful resources from The Virtual Chase, continuing its mission of “teaching legal professionals how to do research.”

http://www.virtualchase.com/resources/facts.shtml

http://www.virtualchase.com/resources/statistics.html

German Civil Code now available in English

The German Federal Ministry of Justice has commissioned a translation of the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (or BGB), the civil code of Germany. The translation can be downloaded free of charge at http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_bgb


Thanks to Sabrina I. Pacifici's beSpacific blog for the heads-up.

I'M BACK...AND I HAVE NEW SITES FOR YOU

Sorry for the gap in posting. I was in rainy, humid, hot southern Florida for a family event and couldn't post. I hope these make up for it.


AASL Advocacy Toolkit: Because Student Achievement IS the Bottom Line

http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/toolkits/aasladvocacy.htm

The American Association of School Libraries has compiled this collection of ready-to-use tools to conduct an advocacy campaign—large or small—for school library media programs.


Google News archive Search

http://news.google.com/archivesearch/

“Provides an easy way to search and explore historical archives. In addition to helping you search, News archive search can automatically create timelines which show selected results from relevant time periods.”


Salida Regional Library (Colorado) tries books by color:
http://vielmetti.typepad.com/superpatron/2006/09/salida_regional.html

“What if the library rearranged it's books by color? Instead of Dewey Decimal numbers such as 306.73 or 978.847, we could have B123 (for Blue #123). Better yet, we could sort by color and size, and the spine label might say something like RS27 (for Red Small #27). New books would get added to the end of their color sections, so finding newer books would be easy. You could no longer browse the shelves by subject matter, but you might more easily find a book you’d seen before. Most people can recall the color and size of books they’ve read. My favorite such description: ‘It had a simple white cover, kind of like the Google homepage.’ And people remember where, too. Like most people, librarians easily remember ‘red book, shoulder high, to the right.’”


U.S. Adults More Likely to Turn to the Web For Legal Information

http://www.lexis-nexis.com/about/releases/0922.asp

A new survey from lawyers.com reveals that there is a decline in relying on friends and family for legal advice.


Create Your Own Catalog Card

http://www.blyberg.net/card-generator/

It’s really cute—try it.


GlobaLex Research Guide on International Health Law

http://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/international_health_law.htm

From Chenglin Liu, Foreign and International Librarian at the O'Quinn Law Library at the University of Houston (Texas) Law Center and the Hauser Global Law School, New York University.


How to Blog a Conference

http://hyku.com/blog/archives/001253.html

Suggestions on developing a conference blogging plan from Josh Hallett, a consultant on using blogs for public relations and marketing success.


McMaster University Library Blog

http://ulatmac.wordpress.com/

The McMaster University Library (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) is a blog sponsored by the University Librarian, Jeffrey Trzeciak. It is intended as a interactive mechanism for distributing and receiving feedback on library-related news.


This Week in LibraryBlogLand

http://twil.lisnews.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/04/1440233&from=rss

This summary of good posts appears on lisnews.org every Monday before noon (Central time).


Resources on Labor

http://micheladrien.blogspot.com/2006/09/labour-day-resources.html

From Michel Adrien, librarian at the Supreme Court of Canada.


Free Printable Highway Maps

http://www.milebymile.com/

Maps and travel guides for the USA, Canada, and Mexico. There is less detail for Mexico, but these are pretty good.


12 Really Necessary Things to Learn

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/08/ten_things_to_l.html

A list from Guy Kawasaki (of angel investor matchmaking service Garage) of what he wished he learned in school before he graduated.

1. How to talk to your boss.

2. How to survive a meeting that’s poorly run.

3. How to run a meeting.

4. How to figure out anything on your own.

5. How to negotiate.

6. How to have a conversation.

7. How to explain something in thirty seconds.

8. How to write a one-page report.

9. How to write a five-sentence email.

10. How to get along with co-workers.

11. How to use PowerPoint.

12. How to leave a voicemail.


Marketing the Small Library

http://ks.webjunction.org/do/DisplayContent?id=13764

From Shannon Roy, State Library of Kansas, for librarians in “small public libraries.” Includes: The Supreme Importance of Planning: including internal and external scans; The Human Side of Marketing: to local government, community leaders, library users, and target audiences; Marketing Library Services: the facility, the collections, public services, and through programs; Tools for Marketing: with the media, self-publishing, through electronic information, and community fundraising; People Who Can Help: staff, volunteers, trustees, friends, active library users, computer buffs, local artists, speakers, fundraisers, and members of the target audience; Resources.


IRCworld

http://ircworld.blogspot.com/

Notes posted by US State Department Information Resource Centers around the world. Links to good resources you might have missed.


Get Organized Here!

http://www.lifeorganizers.com/

LifeOrganizers.com is a rich resource of office and home organizing articles, tips, and fresh, easy ideas on how to get rid of clutter from every part of your life... from the garage to your filing cabinet to your spiritual matters! We show you how to organize anything and everything! Get organized completely with us—read one article a day, put one suggestion into action a day. Includes: organizing your home clutter, organizing your office, organize your time, get your finances organized, moving and real estate, and school and family. You can subscribe to their e-newsletter, too.