Blogging Librarian

Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo

Covering the basics of what social media is all about. Helps you understand that everyone can be a producer of content.

The Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies (C4LPT) in the UK has just released the Summary Information report (PDF) of the Top 100 Tools for Learning. The tools were decided by inviting learning professionals to submit their personal Top 10 tools.

Of the top 10 of the 100 tools listed, I think I use maybe 6 of them on a daily basis:

• del.icio.us
• Firefox
• Google Reader
• Google Search
• Wordpress
• Gmail

Besides these tools, I also use Wikipedia, flickr, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook quite frequently.

So, what are some online tools that you use at work or for personal leisure?

(via heyjude)

- Book-Beer Pairings:Part I and Part II
Authors share what beers would go best with their books. I’ve heard of wine pairings with food, but definitely the first time I’m hearing beer pairings with books. Unfortunately, most of the beers mentioned are not easily available in Singapore. And I’m sure I know a couple of my colleagues who would be really interested in these pairings! Guess it’s time for a beer now.
(via LISNews)

- Life-changing books: Recommendations from 17 leading scientists
Some of the world’s leading scientists share which books have inspired them. Do check out the comments as well as others have contributed their own life-changing books.
(via Boing Boing)

- WebTools4u2use
A wiki was created by 2 school library media specialists from the University of Central Florida to provide information on some of the Web 2.0 tools and how they can be used by librarians, students and teachers. What’s really interesting is that anyone with a Wikispaces account, or register for one, can add to the wiki to expand the resource. Interesting use of social networking tools!
(via LibrarianInBlack)

- Libraries Unleashed
The Guardian, in association with the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), has published a special supplement that features 18 articles on libraries and technology. Do have a look to find out what libraries in the UK are doing with new technologies.
(via iLibrarian)

- Quotations Book
An online resource on quotations. Currently, there are more than 40,000 quotations available on the site.

YouTube Link

Common Craft Show has just come out with another great video on explaining social media. This time it’s on podcasting.

The release is just nice for me as I’ll be doing some course on podcasting next month. This would help the class understand what podcasting is all about.

- The 100 Best Last Lines from Novels (PDF file)
Hmmm … interesting stuff! American Book Review has compiled a list of 100 best last lines from novels. Are there any favorites that you have that are not on the list? Leave them in the comments below.
(via kottke.org)

- Boatipedia - How Do I? … Library FAQs
Library FAQs by Boatwright Memorial Library uses a wiki as its content management system. Personally, I think it’s a very cool idea. Maybe I can convince some of my colleagues to look into this.
(via LibrarianInBlack)

- Hooked on books
An article on turning reluctant readers into enthusiastic ones. It also includes some book suggestions.
(via Library Stuff)

- ‘Google Generation’ is a myth, says new research
The research shows that although young people are familiar with using the computer and the Internet, they, however, do not possess the analytical and critical skills to assess the information that they find. I guess that’s where the role of librarians coming in to help these young people do the critical and analytical assessments.
(via LISNews)

- Evaluating Web Content in the 2.0 Era
Related to the previous link, some guidelines on how to evaluate web content has been put up by a couple of librarians from the University at Albany, SUNY.
(via Library 2.0)

- White bread for young minds, says university professor
A university professor of media studies, Tara Brabazon, has claimed that Google is “white bread for young minds” and more should be done to equip students with the skills that they’ll need to properly interpret and sift through the information readily available on the Internet.
(via LISNews)

- Library Arcade
Carnegie Mellon Libraries’ have created 2 games that are, at the same time, fun and educational. One of the games requires you to help students with their enquiries and the other game is to learn how to shelve books correctly according to the Library of Congress Classification System.
(via iLibrarian)

YouTube Text Link

Another wonderful video by the team at The Common Craft Show on the use of online photo sharing sites such as Flickr and Zooomr.

Happy watching and hope to see more of your photos on online photo sharing sites.

- Ignoring our Digital Community
David Lee King feels that we, as librarians, are ignoring our digital patrons. I guess I have to say in some ways we are ignoring our digital patrons. But we, as in MPOW, have slowly embraced the Web 2.0 wave and are making in-roads in reaching out to the digital community through our blogs. Of course, there are areas for improvement and I believe we are slowly working towards becoming more attuned to our patrons who live in the digital sphere.
(via Library Revolution)

- An Open Letter to the World, From Your Local Librarian
A humorous insight into the life of a 50-something librarian coping in a digital world. However, I must add that some parts of the letter about the behaviors of patrons are quite true even for public libraries in Singapore such as people coming in 5 minutes before the library closes at 9pm and expecting you to show them all the information they need for their assignment due at midnight. Or looking after your children while they going shopping. I guess those are just some of the downsides of working as a librarian. However, there are upsides as well such as when patrons show their appreciation when you help them with an enquiry or find a book that they were not able to find.

- BookSwim
BookSwim is touted as Netflix for books. So, it works by paying a monthly subscription of US$14.99 per month and then requesting for up to two books at a time that you want to read on their website. The books will then be shipped to your house. And when you are done reading, just put it back in the mail box to be sent back to BookSwim. Anyway, this is only available in the US and I’m not too sure if these would work out in Singapore.
(via Read/WriteWeb)

- Kite Runner’s Afghan child stars forced into hiding
A sad thing to read about. Hopefully, the boys and their families are now a lot safer somewhere in United Arab Emirates.

- 36 Bajrang Dal activists held for razing library
A library was demolished in the town of Mamdapur in India over a book. The activists were angry that the library had a copy of a book that contained objectionable references against Lord Rama. The situation was so severe that police had to fire into the air to restore order. The book in question is titled The Truth in the Ramayana. The police have impounded copies of the book.
(via LISNews)

- Libraries pull book over sensitive content
And over in Japan, libraries removed copies of a book that might contain confidential medical information about a teenager that was institutionalized for setting his home and fire and killing his stepmother and two siblings. Police suspect the psychiatrist, who examined the boy during the family court trial, might have leaked the information to the author Atsuko Kusanagi, a freelance journalist. A group of librarians in Tokyo have come out strongly against the court order to remove the book as they feel that this runs counter to the role of libraries that guarantees the right to know.
(via Library Stuff)

And now on to slightly lighter stuff
- Building a Social Networking Environment in the Library
Hmmm … additional points to note for my training on new media literacy. WebJunction’s Steve Campion has provided a general overview of what social networking is and how libraries can make use of it and what the pitfalls are. There’s also a simple 3-steps guide to transforming your library into an interactive one.
(via LibrarianInBlack)

- Psychology classes for MLIS?
Heehee!!! Well, I encounter the same variety of customers in the public libraries in Singapore. There is an elderly gentleman who thinks he’s a gift from God to the people of Singapore, someone who speaks to himself in the middle of the reference floor … loudly, or someone who leaves anti-China notes on the tables in the public areas together with a related article in TIME magazine. There are many others and I’m sure my other colleagues would have met their own fair share of ‘interesting’ patrons in the libraries. See … a librarian’s job is very interesting … besides being information providers, we are also social workers in providing a listening ear.
(via Library Stuff)

- What’s new in Library 2.0? Shift in power.
Kathryn has written post about what she thinks is the ‘new’ in new media. Interesting! I think I might be able to use her ideas in explaining to my colleagues what new media is all about when I’m conducting the training for new media literacy.

- Under the Hood of Web 2.0: the top ten programming concepts of librarians to understand
I’m not a very technical person and I’m quite bad at programming. However, I do have intentions to pick up some programming knowledge and I guess this list is a good starting point on what I should focus on.

- A Living Library
From the technology aspect of libraries, we move to the human aspect of libraries. And I mean human quite literally. A ‘living library’ allows you to ‘borrow’ a person. This person is either a subject expert, has significant experiences to share or an expert hobbyist. The ‘loan’ is usually in the form of a conversation and the loan period can be half an hour, a morning or even the whole day. This concept of ‘living library’ originated in Scandinavia. Hmmm … actually this is good in allowing our senior citizens to share their life experiences to the younger generation. Sort of an interactive history lesson.
(via Library Stuff)