Information Literacy briefing from CILIP
CILIP's Information Literacy Executive Briefing is on 5 July in CILIP HQ in London, UK: Information Literacy: Working together for the future of our profession. There are a number of speakers and opportunity for discussion. Early bird registration before June 1st gives a discount (e.g. £156+ VAT for CILIP members). More information at http://www.cilip.org.uk/infolit2012/pages/default.aspx Read more...
Information Literacy Weblog, Today, 2:18pm
A season of gratitude
I saw the post at Collecting my Thoughtsabout the song I often sang as I was growing up. Sometimes it was part of a testimony service. A graduate student just walked in and thanked me for all the assistance I had given her as she worked toward her degree. That's a blessing I never weary of. She is going to various librarians and personally thanking them for their assistance. So here's to all the teachersin the many schools I have attended. Thank you. Read more...
The In Season Christian Librarian, Today, 2:18pm
Journal of Business & Finance Librarianship IL special issue
There's an information literacy focus to volume 17, issue 1, 2012, of the Journal of Business and Finance Librarianship. Aryicles are: Read more...
Information Literacy Weblog, Today, 2:18pm
April First : Palm Sunday
My blog, Books to Borrowers pulls together the books we have on display for Easter. If you haven't checked out this blog, it's purpose is to post the resources ofolder holdingswe place on display throughout the year. It is a listing more than a bibliography of the resources, although we do attempt to update items when we get in the mood. Read more...
The In Season Christian Librarian, Today, 2:18pm
Could not resist posting this
One of my favorite cartoon sites posted this today. If you see it later go into the archives and look for March 8) Read more...
The In Season Christian Librarian, Today, 2:18pm
CoLRiC Roadshow 22 June
On 22 June in Liverpool, UK, there is the final CoLRiC roadshow Embedding information skills in the curriculum where you can "hear how the award winning Library Team at Northampton College collaborated with curriculum colleagues to embed information and study skills into the curriculum with enormous benefits for students" and have the opportunity to "Discuss concerns with colleagues in our professional surgery". Cost £20 for CoLRiC members, £40 for non-members. More info at Read more...
Information Literacy Weblog, Today, 2:18pm
Out of Context
One of life's little surprises is what appears in the press after I've spoken at great length to a newspaper reporter. This was the case with Lisa Rein's Washington Post story, "Hello Grisham -- So Long Hemingway."
Lisa and I had an extended conversation about the Fairfax County Library System's weeding project where she questioned me over and over again about why libraries would be discarding the classics. I told her that even though a"classic" title might come up on a list of low circulation titles that most librarians would choose to keep it or replace it with a clean copy in an effort to get it moving. I also spoke to her about the need to promote "classic" titles through displays and other ways to attract more interest. My comment about the days of buying only things that we think are good for people even if they don't read them was meant to make the point that we have to... Read more...
Burger's Blog, Today, 2:18pm
Honey I analyzed the Blog
I put Google Analytics in this blog today. Though you the user see nothing, I am secretly aware that you are here. You may not comment, but I still know. And what is cool is how easy it was. Read more...
CARL-IT South, Today, 2:18pm
New Book: Screencasting for Libraries
Greg Notess, one of the first to see the possibilities of screencasting in libraries, has just announced that his new book, Screencasting for Libraries, part of the excellent ALA Tech Set series, has now been published. I had a chance to review this title a couple of months ago and found it an excellent guide for those getting started, and it also includes some good tools and suggestions for the seasoned screencaster.
There's a companion website that provides a couple of useful tools, but I found the section where Greg covers chapter 5, Implementation, fascinating. In chapter 5 Greg walks you through 12 different projects, using several different approaches and tools. In the companion... Read more...
The Distant Librarian, Today, 2:18pm
Keeping Libraries Open
This letter appeared in today's New York Times in response to the closing of the Maplewood (NJ) Public Library's decision to close its library after school. Read more...
Burger's Blog, Today, 2:18pm
So far so good-ish
Took them to a gorgeous lakeside restaurant for dinner and a few drinks. The boys were hilarious and very well behaved. Dad paid (SCORE!) Dad and Spouse went to watch Footbal (SCORE AGAIN!) Tomorrow we go to the Thanksgiving Feast and then who knows. Read more...
Advice at Your Own Risk, Today, 2:18pm
Pay For Public University Presidents Grew Modestly Last Year
Three chief executives of public colleges earned more than $1 million in total compensation during the 2010-11 academic year, according to a survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The median total compensation of the 199 public college presidents surveyed was $421,395, up 2.9 percent from 2009-10, the survey found, while the median base pay, $383,800, increased 1.3 percent. With state financing for public universities dwindling, Read more...
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, Today, 2:17pm
Some Worry That College Has Become Too Easy
Over the past half-century, the amount of time college students actually study — read, write and otherwise prepare for class — has dwindled from 24 hours a week to about 15, survey data show. And that invites a question: Has college become too easy? “I was expecting it to be a lot harder,” said Dixon, 20, of Haymarket. “I thought I was going to be miserable, trying to get good grades. And I do get good grades, and I’m not working very hard.” Declining study time is a discomfiting truth about the vaunted U.S. higher-education system. The trend is generating debate over how much students... Read more...
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, Today, 2:17pm
Online Learning Is Transforming Higher Education
In the coming decade, emerging technologies will thoroughly transform higher education. Although distance learning and computer-assisted education have been around since the 1960s, financial pressures are forcing institutions to develop aggressive online programs.When education goes online, how professors teach, what students learn and how institutions are structured will change significantly. In the past couple of years, traditional colleges and universities have designed their own programs in an effort to increase tuition income without... Read more...
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, Today, 2:17pm
It's Getting Harder To Graduate In Four Years
Only a little over half of fulltime students graduate with a bachelor's degree within six years of starting college. Educators blame the low rate on students who decide to adjust their course loads, take time off or drop out of school altogether. And the stakes are very high. Studies show that students who fail to get a degree do no better than those who never went to college at all, and may be worse off if they accumulate student debt. As more and more schools make graduations rates public, some educators worry they may be held accountable for a statistic that's difficult to measure, and which many now argue is outdated. (note: interview w/ Jeff Selingo). Read more at: Read more...
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, Today, 2:17pm
'We're Losing Our Minds' Author Says Higher Ed Must Focus On Student Learning
An estimated 50 percent of people who receive a four-year degree from an American college lack the skills expected of a college graduate, which means U.S. higher education needs to fundamentally change the way they operate, say the authors of "We're Losing Our Minds: Rethinking American Higher Education." Their basic message: While national debate over the value of a college education has focused on the cost, the more critical issue is whether students are acquiring the skills that have long been... Read more...
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, Today, 2:17pm
The Libraries Are Transforming To The Library At UC San Diego
Thousands of students, faculty, staff and community members use the UC San Diego Libraries every day. The Libraries provide more than 7 million digital and print volumes, journals and multimedia materials, and its resources and services are accessed on the Web almost 90,000 times a day. Ever-evolving shifts in user needs and the continuous decline in state funding, have led the Libraries to implement a number of changes, including the consolidation of some library buildings and collections. Brian E. C. Schottlaender, who joined the campus in 1999 as University Librarian and is the first holder of The Audrey Geisel University Librarianship, talks about the challenges and opportunities that come with organizational change, and how the Libraries will be transitioning over the next year. Read more at: Read more...
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, Today, 2:17pm
More IHEs Choosing STEM Professors As Their Provosts
Iowa’s universities are not alone in looking to administrators with STEM backgrounds to lead their academic efforts. The same week ISU named Wickert provost, the University of Illinois named its College of Engineering dean to the same job. Leading research universities like Iowa, Iowa State and Illinois — those that belong to the prestigious 61-member Association of American Universities — have selected 23 provosts since 2010, according to a Des Moines Register review of university websites. Of those, only five had backgrounds outside of STEM fields.Read more at: Read more...
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, Today, 2:17pm
Preparing Study Abroad Students For Risks And Accidents
With the school year winding down, Tufts University administrators met recently with students planning to study abroad, outlining what they should do before they leave and what to expect when they arrive. Above all, they stressed the risks - and ways to minimize them. Accidents can happen anywhere, and young adults are particularly willing to take risks wherever they are. But at a time when international programs are increasingly popular, the accident has put inherent concerns about the safety of overseas students into new perspective. Read more at: Read more...
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, Today, 2:17pm
Save the Date: Unshelved Day @ ALA
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Bill
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This year is our tenth anniversary, and by way of the powers vested in us by you we are declaring Saturday, June 23rd, 2012 to be Unshelved Day @ ALA. On that day, wear your Unshelved gear. It can be anything we've ever made, vintage or current: t-shirts, hats, jackets, and there probably still a few WWDD tank tops floating around out there. You can even carry one of our books around.
If you all do this simple... Read more...
Unshelved, Today, 1:14pm
Oh Canada (and New Book Bundle)
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Bill
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Gene and I just returned from unseasonably warm Winnipeg, where we spoke at the Manitoba Library Conference. The previous month Gene was in beautiful Jasper, speaking to the Alberta Library Association. In both places everyone was super friendly, but one comment was made again and again: "we'd order more of your stuff, but shipping is too expensive!" Well, international shipping is expensive (and we don't even charge you our full cost!) But in honor... Read more...
Unshelved, Today, 1:14pm
Fierce Reads
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Bill
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Our sponsor this week is Fierce Reads, four books from Macmillan Kids featuring fierce heroines. Click through to find out more about Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, Struck by Jennifer Bosworth, and Of Poseidon by Anna Banks, including information about their Feirce Reads author tour, coming soon to a bookstore near you! Read more...
Unshelved, Today, 1:14pm
Changes Planned at N.Y. Public Library Are Assailed
NY Times – “The New York Public Library came under fire Tuesday night during a panel discussion held to debate its $300 million plan to remake its flagship Fifth Avenue branch. We’re being told that the only way to save the library is to rip out its innards,” said David Nasaw, a panelist and a [...] Read more...
Library Stuff, Today, 9:08am
New Entries to the National Recording Registry
LOC – “Recordings by Donna Summer, Prince and Dolly Parton Named to the National Recording Registry. The voices of former slaves, the sounds of Native American culture, the creative wordplay of “Rapper’s Delight,” Donna Summer’s electric 1977 hit and the only surviving recording of a stage icon are among the sound recordings selected for induction [...] Read more...
Library Stuff, Today, 9:03am
Librarian, Distressed
The Millions – “If you’ve spent any time at all in a public library in the past couple of years — (in the last decade I’ve worked at four separate libraries, both public and academic) — you’ll notice that the focus is changing. Less hushed repose and reading and more shuffling through bins for DVD [...] Read more...
Library Stuff, Today, 8:58am
Book Indexing, Part 3: Tips for Do-It-Yourselfers [The Chronicle of Higher Education]
Library Link of the Day, Today, 4:00am
Bay Area immigration records, destined for dustbin, will be released Tuesday
Contra Costa Times – “Tens of thousands of old West Coast immigration records the government once sought to throw away will instead become publicly available on Tuesday at a Bay Area archive. Photographs, letters, health records, interview transcripts and other historical documents were destined for a recycling bin or a remote Midwestern storage facility. “We [...] Read more...
Library Stuff, Yesterday, 9:20am
‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ by E. L. James, in Demand at Libraries
NY Times. – “It did not escape the notice of Tim Cole, the collections manager for the Greensboro Public Library in North Carolina, that “Fifty Shades of Grey” was “of mixed literary merit,” as he put it with a heavy helping of Southern politeness. He ordered 21 copies anyway.” Read more...
Library Stuff, Yesterday, 9:02am
U.C.L.A. Professor Makes a Case for Google as Publisher
NYTimes – “IS Google search an intermediary like the phone company — simply connecting people with the information they seek? Or is Google search a publisher, like a newspaper, which provides only the information that it sees fit and is protected by the First Amendment?” Read more...
Library Stuff, Yesterday, 8:54am
Presentations from LILAC #lilac12
The powerpoints from the 2012 LILAC (information literacy) conference are online at http://lilacconference.com/WP/past-conferences/lilac-2012/ - too many to take in easily, lots of good stuff! Read more...
Information Literacy Weblog, Yesterday, 2:45am
Journal Club: 22 May in Second Life
Journal Club, led by Ridvan Ata, University of Sheffield, England. Read more...
Information Literacy Weblog, Yesterday, 2:18am
Read Alouds
Tomorrow is World Read Aloud Day! What better book to read aloud than the Bible. There are several read-aloud versions of Bible Stories for children. Read more...
The In Season Christian Librarian, May 21, 2:19pm
November
One of the wittiest scenes in Rumpold of the Bailey has poor Rumpold walking in a cold November rain muttering: "No sun, no heat, November" or words to that effect. Perhaps the weather is one reason for practising gratitude in November. Read more...
The In Season Christian Librarian, May 21, 2:19pm
Reich Tells 2012 Grads That They Are...Well...Screwed
Members of the Class of 2012. As a former secretary of labor and current professor, I feel I owe it to you to tell you the truth about the pieces of parchment you’re picking up today. You’re f*cked. Well, not exactly. But you won’t have it easy. First, you’re going to have a hell of a hard time finding a job. You’re still better off than your friends who didn’t graduate. Read more at: Read more...
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, May 21, 2:16pm
Engineering Curriculum Shifts To Prepare Students For Battery-Powered Autos
Ms. Bovee’s shift in the emphasis of her studies, from mechanical to other engineering disciplines, mirrors changes under way not just in the auto industry but in the classes of engineers graduating from universities. As automakers increase their efforts to design vehicles that are more fuel-efficient and friendlier to the environment, engineering programs are likewise adapting their curriculums, preparing students to build vehicles increasingly powered by batteries and managed by computers. Read more at: Read more...
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, May 21, 2:16pm
Keeping College Students In Science By Moving From Large Lectures To Active Learning
The U.S. has a surplus of science jobs but not enough college graduates to fill them. Studies find that 40 percent of students planning to major in science, technology, engineering or mathematics end up switching majors or don’t finish. Some say large lecture classes are chasing students out of science. There's an initiative at Johns Hopkins to engage students in so-called “active learning" entry-level science courses. Read more at: Read more...
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, May 21, 2:16pm
Turning Dorm Move-out From Wasteful To Charitable
As many students clean out their group houses, apartments or dormitory rooms at the end of the semester, they often find they have items that are either unwanted or difficult to transport home. Georgetown is one of several area schools that have partnered with local charities so that end-of-the-year castoffs can find a a new life in the homes of in-need families instead of landing in a dumpster. Knowing that many of these donations might have wound up in a landfill and are instead being put to good use is something that might help students reevaluate their own consumption habits. Read more at: Read more...
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, May 21, 2:16pm
60 Minutes Grills Peter Thiel On His College Dropout Plan
One of the wealthiest, best-educated American entrepreneurs, Peter Thiel, isn't convinced college is worth the cost. With only half of recent U.S. college graduates in full-time jobs, and student loans now at $1 trillion, Thiel has come up with his own small-scale solution: pay a couple dozen of the nation's most promising students $100,000 to walk away from college and pursue their passions. Morley Safer takes a look at Thiel's critique of college. Watch this 60 Minutes segment: Read more...
The Kept-Up Academic Librarian, May 21, 2:16pm
Donor Resurrects Endangered Bookmobile
NPR – “When a bookmobile broke down last winter in rural Vermont, patrons, especially preschoolers, really missed it. Then a donor, who heard an NPR story about the rolling library’s demise, came up with over $100,000 for a replacement. The town can’t believe its good fortune.” Read more...
Library Stuff, May 21, 9:12am
The GSU decision not an easy road for anyone [Scholarly Communications @ Duke]
Library Link of the Day, May 21, 4:00am
GoneReading: buy book stuff for a cause
I get about 2-3 "cold call" emails per month asking me to consider posting something "of interest to my readers" on this blog. They're pretty much never of interest to me, and thus I don't feel compelled to pass them along to you. Here's an... Read more...
The Distant Librarian, May 21, 2:18am
5/21/2012-Major Gifts Officer 5 , Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA
Major Gifts Officer 5 Read more...
Combined Library Job Postings - Lisjobs.com and Library Job Postings on the Internet, May 21, 2:01am
5/21/2012-Assistant Director for Instructional Services (13331), University of South Florida Library, TAMPA, FLORIDA
Assistant Director for Instructional Services (13331) Read more...
Combined Library Job Postings - Lisjobs.com and Library Job Postings on the Internet, May 21, 2:01am