Plea for the future of libraries...

ALA has recently made a plea and is in hopes to raise $500,000.00 for the school, public and academic libraries losses in floods and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Let's think about this for one moment and reassess our core values. Just the future of the book alone must move you, let alone the aspect of the library as a place to escape, grow, and connect to the outside world. In reality, $500,000.00 is a mere drop in the bucket compared to what it will take to bring even one of these libraries back into business.

Please join me in focusing our efforts to ensure life after loss.

Sharon

Do you need to search deeper than the surface?

I recently became aware of some very useful search tools that allowed me to search much deeper for pertinent information. I encourage you to try these the next time you want to dive a little deeper. Your patrons will be amazed at the quality of information they received and you will be thankful for the time you saved!

Infomine:
http://infomine.ucr.edu/

Librarians' Index to the Internet:
http://lii.org/

Complete Planet:
http://aip.completeplanet.com/

Helpful links

Helpful Links for Librarians:
(All links accessed 6/21/05)

http://www.mls.lib.il.us/cats.cfm?catid=150&mid=80
This source is used by librarians and professionals in Acquisitions and Collection Development Departments. This is an excellent portal of information in the library and information science field. Vanderbilt's page is down 6/21/05

http://xoom.xoom.com/
This appears to be a great page to get you started with creating your own web page. Don't be afraid to create something, it may turn out to be very useful for yourself and others.

http://www.refdesk.com/
Have you ever needed to finds facts in a hurry? Next time, check this source out. It is truly amazing.

http://readingsoftware.notlong.com/
For questions about writing techniques, proper grammar, etcetera, give this source a try. It is a highly recommended evaluation tool.

http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/activities/language/index.asp
Here is another useful tool to encourage literacy skills. It is great.


http://www.coastal.edu/library/presentations/mills2.html
Have you been asked where to find papers that have already been written about a topic on the Internet? This site may help you guide those students in a better direction.


http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/
Health statistics can be accessed via the Center for Disease Control. This is their website.


http://www.libraryspot.com/
This is a great reference tool. There are also links to about any helpful tool you can imagine. Information is provided for homework, parenting information, reference materials, and much more. The following link can be accessed through this page, as well.

http://www.govspot.com/
If you are looking for an excellent starting point for government information, this is it.

http://www.census.gov/
This is another great site to find out information on the most recent census.
The amount of information available seems infinite. There are even current topics links, which would be useful for educators.

Intellectual Property- Why should I care?

I recently attended an enlightening workshop: Copyright in a Digital World, which was sponsored by OCLC. Since then, I have done some searching on this topic and found a very good article pertaining to how copyright issues impact the academic world. While intellectual property is a "buzz" topic, it is very real and should be taken very serious!

Here is how one institution addressed a need:

Deyrup, M.M. Intellectual Property and the University: An Interview with Kim Bonner, Director, Center for Intellectual Property, University of Maryland, University College. Library Administration & Management v. 19 no. 1 (Winter 2005) p. 4-6.

Blogs in libraries?

You have got to read these articles. They help explain what blogs can do for you.

Ojala, Marydee. Online.Ownership, Access, Retrieval, and Sharing.Mar/Apr2005, Vol. 29 Issue 2, p5, 1p

SCHMIDT, Aaron.Future-Minded. Library Journal; 3/15/2005 Movers & Shakers, Vol. 130, p8, 1/2p, 1c

Here is a great example of a library blog:

http://santafelibrary.blogspot.com/

Here are a couple of must see blogs:

http://publicmusingsandcomplaints.blogspot.com

http://oyarsa.blogspot.com

What if I don't know how to blog?

No sweat! If I can do it, so can you!

Step 1: Think of a cool, unique, yet obvious name.

Step 2: Once you have your name, you are ready to post. What this means is that you are ready to type something meaningful for the whole world to see.

Step 3: Click on "Publish Post."

Step 4: Click on "Republish Entire Blog."

Step 5: Click on "View Blog" tab at the top of page (or on the small print).

Step 6: Write the url address of your blog down (http://www....blogger.com) .

Step 7: Smile in amazement at what you have done and sign out.

Start your own blog

Come on, don't be scared...
Click on this link and follow the three easy steps to start your own blog.

http://www.blogger.com/start

I must warn you though, this is addicting! I now have two of my own blogs.

For additional help with your blog, or if you want more from your blog, click on this link:

http://www.blogger.com/knowledge/2004/06/this-old-blog.pyra

Intimidated by the rampid technology?

The purpose of this blog is to provide some helpful tips, links, and literature to help bring you up to speed.

Just for starters, look at this link:

http://libraryspot.com/

You will be amazed at the amount of quality information in one site. It is like "one-stop shopping."

Sharon