Monday, August 3, 2009

Web Junction Comments

What articles did you read and what did you like and dislike?

20 comments:

  1. I just read the article about bilingual storytimes at the Mission Branch of the San Francisco Public Library. I can hardly believe that Rachel took on a program with 120 people, many of them toddlers, and survived it. She must be one fantastic programmer.

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  2. I read Blogs for Libraries by Greg Schwartz.He points out why it is important for librarians to know about blogging and lists six reasons why one should blog. Time seems to be the big drawback to much of the technologies we can learn as there are so many critical functions pertaining to our jobs that our workdays are often crowded with those and working in new training, while delightful, can impede on time restraints already in place.

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  3. "A Grand Tour of Alternative Funding" by Joseph Anderson lists a number of ideas, and dere's one - "Wood Library (in Canandaigua, NY) has assembled a tidy summary of ways to donate money, from purchasing books to contributing to the annual fund drive (give $50 and borrow fine-free for a year!)." What a pleasant idea - fundraising instead of fee raising. We will have to start doing both, I suppose.

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  4. I read "Toward Equality of Access" from the Research and Statistic portion of WebJunction. I think it is amazing how much of an impact our libraries have in helping to "shorten" the digital divide. While it is difficult for me to see individuals struggle with the most basic functions of computer usage, I am at least happy to be influential in teaching them these simple functions--at no cost to them, in the comfort of their public library. The article made assumptions that funding cuts would limit this access, which I think is very scary to consider. Everything, it seems, is being conducted through the internet. What of those who rely on their libraries to fulfill this need? I like that this article emphasizes how necessary this service is to our public.

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  5. In the Library Services area I found a topic page on Reader's Advisory. I read a selection about book discussion groups, which included a thesis paper on the role everyday information exchange plays in book discussion groups. A section titled "Book Discussion Selection Criteria" could be helpful when asked about forming new book groups.

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  6. I read about the Living Library Project. The program helps people to break down the sterotypes and prejudices that we have by "checking out" a person and having a conversation with them. These conversations are to be open and honest and the subjects are as different as each of us are. They allow you to ask the questions that we are afraid to ask or just assume we know the correct answers to. It sounds like an amazing opportunity and I wish we could bring it to SCDL. www.living-library.org for more information.

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  7. Arghh, my third attempt at posting!!!!!

    I adore the Bilingual Story Time by Columbus Metro. I actually first saw it through their annual report (see url below). Their web annual report is amazing.
    Karen Allen/PI
    http://ourstory.columbuslibrary.org/

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  8. I read "Reader's Advisory Services on Library Web Sites" which is an area of the library that interests me. I love pathfinders which have fallen out of use and I think if your library has a good reader's advisory area on their website, it makes your job as a librarian much easier. The article gave examples of library websites to go to to see a variety of ways that reader's advisory services are offered. It says that the biggest thing library's do wrong is not have it labeled properly so users now its there and available.

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  9. I just finished reading "Adult Reading Incentive Program on a Shoestring Budget." It was very interesting to a fellow adult programmer. She spoke of all the challenges we face as the ones that tend to be left behind. There were very good ideas offered to help you budget with very little money and ideas were offered for free programs. It is always good to find information from people in the same situation you are in and the ideas in the article were very helpful.

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  10. I enjoyed reading about Thin Clients! I learned that they are a handy and economical way to maintain (sometimes older) computers in a library setting and that they are managed from a central server and that " a brief phone call to the system headquarters would mean a quick resolution" of any problems that may arise!
    I also enjoyed reading about and seeing pictures of display ideas and enjoyed the reader advisory posts.

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  11. I read about the Choose to Read Ohio program which is a project of the the State Library of Ohio. I read reviews of the adult book titles which I found interesting because of the Ohio connection that the authors have.
    I plan to re-visit this site.

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  12. I found the information in the article, "The State Library Of Ohio's Future Plan Is To Serve Ohio's Genealogists Virtually" very exciting news. Working on my family tree takes a lot of time and money. Most people, like myself, find it hard to travel all over to do the research. According to this article the Family History Library (Ohio) will digitize its entire microfilm colletion and the Ohio State documents collection. They will make it all available on the web like Family Search. I hope this means it will be free!
    The accident (industrial, mine, and rail) reports may help me find information about my greatgrandfather. My mother believes he was injured in a railroad accident and could never work again. I'm really looking forward to this release in 2012.

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  13. I read articles titled "Building a Social Networking Environment at the Library" and "Recent Research on Virtual Communities."

    -Nicole H.

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  14. I liked "Recent Research on Virtual Communities" because it talked about different types of virtual communities (Community of Interest, Goal Oriented Community of Interest, Learner's Community, and Community of Practice). I also enjoyed the portion of the article about online conferences and how they are convenient for people because they don't have to be scheduled; you can access them at any time.

    "Building a Social Networking Environment at the Library" was a good article but it didn't talk about developing your social networking once the pages were up and running. It discussed ways to get a few extra fans in the beginning but not any ways to grow your fan base in the future.

    -Nicole H

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  15. I read an article entitled "Family Literacy: A Case for Collaboration between Public and School Libraries". There were many interesting suggestions. The one I think would work for SV is called Family Tales. It centers around stories about families that the students read. Then the kids compile questions to ask their own families. Their responses are taken for a grade. I also liked the program where parents record books for the children to hear later in the classroom. Very interesting stuff!

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  16. I also read an article about hosting a Madden tournament It had many detais on how they ran the tournament. This may come in handy sometime!

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  17. I read an article on E-Rate
    http://webjunctionworks.org/oh/blog/index.php/2009/10/19/e-rate-training-begins-this-week/

    It was to inform everyone that registering for E-Rate benefits was to begin this week. It also included a check list for what every library needs to qualify for E-Rate discounts.
    Cassie

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  18. I read "Alternative Software Types," but can I say, WJ really needs to update their Open Source section. This article is so old that when discussing browsers, the author mentions Netscape but not Firefox. Only one article in this section was even written this year.
    Anyhow, I realize that there's certain software we have to keep if we don't want staff and patrons to revolt, but I'd love to see SDCL look more into Open Source to save some money.

    Shelia

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  19. I enjoyed the article "Denver Public Library Programs for Children". I especially liked the fact that they emphasized that while they take advantage of technology, they still appreciate the experience a child has when someone reads to them!

    Marcia M

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  20. On the Ohio Webjunction, I liked the article on Holmes County Public Library partnering with Organic Valley Family of Farms to receive a grant of $5,000. In these days of diminished funding, libraries must be creative in looking for money. I think Holmes County did this and I applaud them.

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