Cool source for videos
While surfing around for information on Web 2.0, I came across a website called vidipedia.org. This is just another in a new generation of the web where anyone can upload videos that are organized by both tags and topics. At the log on screen you can see a random clip of the day or you can surf by subject for things that interest you. A cool short film on the flight of starlings is truly amazing. Be prepared to spend some time here. You will be easily riveted to the things that people post from the serious to the whimsical. It is amazing to see where the web is going and how we all get to be taken along for the ride!
Last Harry Potter book
It is great in this crazy world we live in that one of the leading headlines of the day is that the last Harry Potter book will be coming out this summer on July 21st. Can you believe that with the publication of the 7th and final Harry Potter called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that the books mark a 10 year anniversary. The announcement came at J. K. Rowling’s website today marking the beginning of the end of the momentous series that changed the face of children’s literature for a generation. So while you wait for the last volume to arrive, try rereading the earlier ones. I have reread many as books on tape or also books on CD. This is a great way to get the flavor of of the original tale as of course the book is always better than the movie.
Midterms
It’s that time of year when high school students are preparing for midterm exams. As the mentor of a freshman group, I have been making packets of info to help students get ready for the “big” event. One of the better websites is TestTakingTips.com . It covers everything from true & false to essays. Also beneficial is how to psych yourself for tests and take care of personal needs such as food and rest. If you haven’t studied or taken your classes seriously so far I can’t help that. But I can help you prepare for the test taking days. Be good to yourself, try hard, and give it the best effort you have. GOOD LUCK!!!!
Overdue books
Scanning the news today I found a great posting at AOL News about a man who returned a library book he took out in 1960.
Overdue materials are the bane of every librarian and here at school it is no exception. What people don’t understand is … that a lost book or material is a drain on the budget. Because you have to replace the item you don’t get to spend that money on something new. Every week I am having to tell a student that the book they want is overdue and/or long lost by a student who never returned. It turns away a valued patron who is frustrated by that loss or limitation.
So back to the story. This is a very heartening to know that the book was brought back, though long forgotten in the now computerized system. So to those book forgetters out there, it’s never too late to bring back a book or material and make a librarian’s day. If you can pay the fine or make a donation for the time and inconvience to the library staff, do so. Their budget and patrons will thank you for clearing the slate.
Time Magazine: “person of the year”
Time Magazine created controversy by naming their annual ”person of the year” as you and I … the people who create blogs and other online content for anyone anywhere in the world to read. So I guess that means ME!!
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html
I’ve been online in some form or another since the early 90’s and have been lucky to know know about the online world since the late 80’s. I love the idea of blogging and getting my ideas out there. I have many inspirations in the online world and read many blogs everyday. The Daily Kos , Keith Olbermann’s blogs, and many library world blogs. I think it truly visionary that Time would name the online world as people of the year as now and forever it has changed how people get and view information. Just sit next to a person at a conference and watch them pound away on a laptop telling the world about what is going on in that very moment. As I write this article Chris Matthews of MSNBC Hardball is blogging from the funeral of Gerald Ford. So as I write this I may be preaching to a choir of true believers, but if not maybe you will become a reader of thoughtfulness that comes from someone who sits down and blogs about what is current, topical, whistful, and occasionally meanful if only for the person writing the blog. So all of you bloggers…CONGRATULATIONS on a job well done!
Education not taken for granted
This past week I had the opportunity to chat with a woman named Margaret who is working on her GED. Margaret is a middle-aged woman who dropped out of school in her early high school years to take care of her family. She is now going blind due to macular degeneration. But this hasn’t stopped her passion for finally having a high school diploma. As I talked to her she chatted freely about missed opportunities, but loved her family enough to be okay with how her life had gone. At her GED program, Margaret has been writing a story that has taken her months to create and edit. The idea of using a computer made her nervous, but she hung in there. She beamed as she told me that her story had been entered in a contest for all the GED programs in the state. Education has opened a world to this sweet woman. I felt priviledged to sit and chat with her about her life and how important education was even at her age.
Today we have the Internet and information at our fingertips 24/7. It seems a shame to read in the paper everyday about American students not doing as well as international counterparts or that the nation’s dropout rate is rising. Kids today could take a lesson from Margaret who left education in a generation where family survival made dropping out necessary. Today even with permanent blindness looming closer, she realizes what an opportunity she has and can’t wait to go to school each week and learn. We can all learn from Margaret and people like her who go back to finish their education even under tremendous odds. She is truly an inspiration and I will never look at education through the same eyes again.
Information 24/7
Having access to information 24/7 is what the promise of the Internet is all about. But if your Google search is unwieldy and Ask Jeeves just doesn’t have the answer, you can go online to the Mass Answers link at the Worcester Public Library website and ask a question of a librarian 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The request is live and there really is a librarian at the other end who uses a wide variety of sources to help you. So even a librarian from Hawaii can help you find things locally. The librarian will even send a follow-up e-mail to be sure you got the help you need. This service will also refer you to legal librarians or medical librarian if you want specialized information. This is a wonderful service and you do not need a library card to use it. So if you are stuck for information at the odd time and you don’t have someone available to ask in person, try the Mass Answers 24/7 . If you try the service early afternoons, you will likely get the great staff at the Worcester Public Library as that is the shift they work. Tell them Mrs. Wargo sent you!
Changing role of Librarians (media specialists too)
There are many pundits that question the need for libraries and librarians in a world of 24/7 information on the Internet. What is curious is that the same notion can be exactly the reason why there should be librarians. Are you looking at the issue as a glass half empty or half full. Recently CNET posted a great article that I wish I could put in the hands of every person that thinks a Google search now gives them a Masters Degree in Library Science.
This article called: “The most reliable tool could be your librarian” and it speaks to that issue.
http://news.com.com/2100-1032_3-6120778.html
I figure if CNET is encouraging the use of a libraries and Google has a librarian space, just maybe people might realize that on occasion you will need the services of someone who lives in information world all day long. So when you do a search that renders you a few million hits, try asking a librarian to help you, he/she just may know how to get the information odds back in your favor and yes…save a whole lot of time.
“My college freshman is your high school senior”
I will be attending a workshop at Mt. Wachusett Community College in Gardner on June 8th to take part in something that is very important to helping students be truly ready for college.
http://www.cmrls.org/CE/mycollegefreshman.html
Heidi McCann along with CMRLS will be providing the forum to help high school teachers, college professors, and business leaders really know what colleges and the business world want students to have for information skills. Schools tend to want to plan and hope that the skills they provide are enough, rather than asking what colleges and the business world want and planning backwards or accordingly. I look forward to gathering information for my students that will make their research stronger. Check out the resources of the Central Mass. Library System (CMRLS) for more information at www.cmrls.org.
Privacy … or something like it
With the popularity of websites like MySpace and Facebook, social networking has taken the world by storm. Kids and sometimes their parents are naive about what gets posted and who sees it. What kids today don’t know is that there was a generation before them that was addicted to their own version of Internet contact called BBS’s. Only when I was chatting up a storm with people all over the world, during those digital bygone days we didn’t even know there was an Internet. Now with slick websites and the ease of uploading of quick and sometimes impulsive digital images, kids especially are putting things out on the Internet that they would never share willingly with their parents or even their teachers. There is a great article by Anna Quinlan on the subject of privacy. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13121946/site/newsweek/ Think about all the places a computer knows you from your ATM machine, grocery card, to Internet preferences. This article is an interesting look at the world of privacy or lack there of. So be careful what you put out there for the world to see because “Big Brother” just might be watching after all.
