Et tu, Delicious?

With more than a little regret and annoyance, I moved my Bloglines feeds to Google Reader when it was announced they would be eliminating the service. (Yes, Bloglines was subsequently purchased by MerchantCircle and users are to migrate to the new system.) Now Yahoo will be closing Delicious. After reading the notice, I logged in to Delicious and exported my 738+ bookmarks. The tags do not display in the html list, though they do in the source code, which makes recreating the portal a daunting task.

• Yahoo Shutting Down Delicious, Buzz, Other Services
  "Part of our organizational streamlining involves cutting our investment in underperforming or off-strategy products to put better focus on our core strengths and fund new innovation in the next year and beyond," a Yahoo spokeswoman said via e-mail. "We continuously evaluate and prioritize our portfolio of products and services, and do plan to shut down some products in the coming months such as Yahoo Buzz, our Traffic APIs, and others. We will communicate specific plans when appropriate." -- Chloe Albanesius, PC Mag.com, 12-16/10


• Yahoo Closing Delicious
  "It’s a sad day for the many people who have come to rely on del.icio.us, a very popular social bookmarking site. Yahoo, which bought the site in 2005, is now in the midst of shutting it down after deeming it an ”off-strategy product.” This news comes to us via TechCrunch who verified the story with a WSJ reporter as well as with Yahoo itself, mere days after announcing it had layed off 4% of its staff in a recent downsizing exercise." -- Simon Cohen, Sync, 12/16/10


• Is Yahoo Sutting Down Delicious? Yes
  "For a couple of days now, we’ve been hearing rumors that the Yahoo layoffs included the entire Delicious team. Now Former Yahoo employee and Upcoming founder Andy Baio has tweeted out the above Yahoo! product team meeting slide that seems to show that Yahoo! is either closing or merging the social bookmarking service as well as Upcoming, Fire Eagle, MyBlogLog and others." -- Alexia Tsotsis, TechCrunch, 12/16/10


• Yahoo Plans to Kill Off Delicious Bookmarking Service
  "According to a leaked photo, Yahoo plans to close a number of services, including Yahoo Buzz, MyBlogLog and Delicious, the popular bookmarking site. Most of the closing services are Yahoo projects that simply never went anywhere, but Delicious, which Yahoo acquired in 2005, was once the king of bookmarks and helped popularize many of the key elements of today’s social web." -- Scott Gilbertson, WebMonkey, 12/17/10

It is simple enough to export my bookmarks to another service, there's a quick tutorial on how to export into Diigo and a convenient video highlighting their service (be patient,"As there are huge number of requests lately, it may take a while."). And these things happen when using a free, dare I say it, cloud based Internet resource. It just so happened these were two of my favorite early 2.0 tools.

The real issue here is people, reports are Yahoo laid off over 600 workers recently - among them the entire Delicious staff.

[Update] Delicious Blog 12/17/2010

What's Next for Delicious?
"Many of you have read the news stories aboutDelicious that began appearing yesterday. We’re genuinely sorry to have these stories appear with so little context for our loyal users. While we can’t answer each of your questions individually, we wanted to address what we can at this stage and we promise to keep you posted as future plans get finalized."

Weekly reader wrap-up

Tomorrow is our last day before the holiday break. Those days are always full of general house-keeping , blog posts, changing phone messages, updating web information, and preparing my area for time off, are just a few tasks at hand. That said, here is my final weekly reader wrap-up for 2010 on a Thursday. Sometimes it is difficult to find items to share, while other weeks my reader overflows with interesting blog reading. This week fell in-between with so many end-of-year wraps in the mix; there are library, education, technology, and general interest links.

• Study finds undergrads hitting the books less often
  
  "With final exams approaching on many college campuses, it won't be hard to spot stressed-out students hunched over laptops, hunkered down in library stacks or fending off fatigue with Red Bull. Sure, they're dedicated and hard-working. Or maybe not." -- Bill Schackner, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12/12/10


• How Much is Enough?
  "I’ve been hearing more and more, recently, about people dropping out of service and professional development opportunities because they cannot secure funding from their institutions to attend." --Amy Fry, ACRLog, 12/13/10


• Who Tweets?
  "This is the first-ever survey reading from the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project that exclusively examines Twitter users. In previous surveys, the Pew Internet Project had asked internet users whether they "used Twitter or another service to share updates about yourself or to see updates about others?" -- Pew Research Center Publications, 12/9/10


• Researchers Create 3-D Models with Flickr Photos
  "An international team of researchers has developed a new way to turn photographs from the media-sharing sites like Flickr into intricate 3-D computer models using only a home computer." --Travis Kaya, Wired Campus, 12/10/201


• Search and Insert YouTube Videos
  "Blogger supports drop-dead easy video-blogging -- if you have a video file, you can just upload it to Blogger. But when it comes to video-blogging, we know a lot of you also choose to embed YouTube videos to your post." -- Blogger in Draft, 12/14/10


• 10 Ways Social Media Will Change in 2011
  "2011 will also be marked by new developments that will shape the very fabric of our behavior, culture and identity. These developments will challenge us to consider important questions about the future of our experience as connected people and consumers. Here are key trends to watch in the coming year." -- Ravit Lichtenberg, ReadWriteWeb, 12/15/10


• Generations 2010: Pew Internet & American Life Report
  "There are still notable differences by generation in online activities, but the dominance of the Millennial generation that we documented in our first “Generations” report in 2009 has slipped in many activities." -- Kathryn Zickuhr, Pew Reserch Center, 12/16/10


• LibAnswers Help Libraries Win the Race
  "Here’s a “too good not to share” story from our friends at Albuquerque/Bernalillo County (ABC) Libraries, who published a LibAnswer that received 11,000+ views in 5 days."-- Springshare Support Blog, 12/15/10

From Common Craft: Project Based Learning

The Common Craft blog presented a new video yesterday, Project Based Learning - Explained: A Custom Video Project with BIE. It is a great resource for understanding what PBL is and what it can do for students in any classroom. The online education technology course I work with is project based and focuses upon 21st Century Skills for students as pre-service teachers. This is something that could be incorporated with information literacy instruction, especially when paired with active learning.

It's that time: The year in review

A plethora of annual year-end lists are being published, here are a few that made their way into my reader this weekend. In no particular order:

• The Top Twitter Trends of 2010
• The Horn Book Magazine's 2010 Fanfare List
• Time Magazine, The Top Ten of Everything 2010
• Time Magazine, The Top Ten Gadgets
• The Top Ten Quotes of 2010
• Yahoo! 2010 Year in Review
• Yahooo! 2010 Year in Review: Top 10 Searches

And, from Google and YouTube:

• The Year on YouTube: Double Rainbows, Annoying Oranges, and Bed Intruders
  
  

• Zeitgeist 2010: How the World Searched
  
  

Protopage (replacing Pageflakes)

At the conclusion of this term, students creating their electronic portfolios were greeted with an unpleasant surprise when their Pageflakes portals were unavailable. The site suffered a number of significant outages between mid-October and the end of November and even this evening, is not available to users. I have been researching any number or web sites that could provide the same LibGuide-like results for students to use; the assignment is a great ice-breaker, students use a 2.0 technology and put the first building block in place with ease. I may have found a perfect companion to Netvibes, replacing Pageflakes, with Protopage.

A 2.0 start page, similar in nature to Netvibes, iGoogle, and Pageflakes (without the previously mentioned spotty usage reports) it provides users with opportunity to personalize their web experience.

"Protopage leverages Web 2.0 methodologies to create a very smooth drag-and-drop interface that acts more like your desktop than a browser home page, and not only does it have just about everything you will want in a start page, but it does almost everything well." -- The Scoop on Protopage, Daniel Nations, About.com Web Trends

I registered for a free account and quickly created a usable page. Not as flashy as Netvibes, it does provide easy options for text with wysiwyg editors and 'sticky notes,' video with html options in the text editor and widget boxes for video, and several different options to create bookmark lists and news feeds.


This afternoon I wrote and revised a short series of storyboards for video tutorials. I used Screencast-o-matic, along with a little help from YouTube's Video Editor, to produce two video tutorials (in HD). The videos, Protopage Introduction and Adding Widgets to Your Portal, will be featured this spring replacing the Pageflake videos.

Next I plan to move forward with incorporating Google Docs Forms in the classroom. I used Google Forms to develop surveys for student input on LibGuides created for two courses (take a sneak peek at one embedded in a LibGuide) and would like to add forms as an addendum of sorts to the Google Spreadsheet assignment.

Vanity searching, ego surfing ...

No matter what it's called, vanity searching, ego surfing, or Googling yourself - "A rose by any other name" - I never really considered the act a guilty or narcissistic pleasure as described in the opening paragraphs of the Time's article Why Google Wants You to Google Yourself. Within closing remarks and announcements at the end of my technology course, I remind students everything they created and presented online now belongs to them; projects may be marked private, edited and revised to suit their ongoing needs, or simply deleted. Regardless of their decision I advocate performing a vanity search, they should carefully evaluate the results and determine if their growing online persona is appropriate for a potential employer to view.

Generally speaking, I follow the advice and perform the same search on myself using Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Ice Rocket utilizing various forms of my name (quotes, no quotes, middle initial, etc.). After the initial wonder finding blog comments, ALAO board meeting minutes, a email posting from grad school years ago, and more recently uFollow, I've not found anything unusual or needing my attention. That is, until last week. Search results yielded links to several very dated (six years ago) technology handouts and tutorials I developed had been uploaded from my personal university web site to a course material sharing web site.

I like to share; all of my instructional videos on YouTube are public and I've never denied a request for using one of my LibGuides, but finding these resources posted without permission was irksome. I searched the site for project guidelines, privacy notices, and contact information to request removal of items uploaded without permission. I sent an email request, complete with specific links and document titles, on Tuesday. I had an answer the next day complete with digital copyright statements showing they had complied with the law and a requirement I state - categorically - my ownership of said documents. I found it ironic they could post what did not belong to them, yet I had to 'prove' they were mine to have them removed. Official notice the four documents had been removed arrived via email late Thursday. Yesterday I tested the links and they were indeed no longer active. I also found three more items (update: they have been removed).

Google: 20 Things I Learned

Webmonkey contributor Michael Calore reviews on Google's newest book; Beautiful Websites: Google's Book of 20 Things. The tag line, or perhaps virtual book flap, promotes Google's 20 Things I Learned About Browsers and the Web pronouncing "For things you’ve always wanted to know about the web but were afraid to ask, read on." One of the things I learned today is a snarky message displays when the title is opened in an IE 8 browser sans a Google Chrome Frame plug in.

"This illustrated book was designed for HTML5-compliant browsers and will not work with your current browser. For the best viewing experience, please download a modern browser, or install the Google Chrome Frame plug-in and try launching this site again."

I spent a few minutes browsing through the book (it's rather cool the page actually appears to be moving in the browser) and was particularly interested in the chapters on browsers and privacy, identifying malicious URLs, and cloud computing. Written in a friendly, narrative format, this book is worth sharing. Luckily, there are convenient share options embedded into the book.

State of the Blogosphere 2010

Tech Crunch contributor Erick Schonfeld's blog post 2010 State Of The Blogosphere: Facebook And Twitter Drive The Most Traffic summarizes key points from The State of the Blogosphere presentation given by Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra.

State Of The Blogosphere Presentation 2010

Two Week reader wrap-up

I delayed last weeks wrap-up to blog about the ALAO conference (late) and still have two posts remaining in my folder. So, this is a two-week reader collection that includes technology links, tips for blogging from MS Office 2010, and collaboration with Prezi . Take a few minutes to read the comments accompanying Steven Bell's Library Journal column, when I added to this post link there were very good discussions detailing the necessity of basic steps in elementary and high school before teaching research strategies in higher education.

* In a very unblog-like fashion, the newest items are posted last ...

• OhioLINK What's New
  A recent addendum to the previous post / announcement (9/30) regarding the new OhioLINK executive director (10/25).


• Research with Training Wheels From the Bell Tower
  "As much as we academic librarians sometimes whine about our problems (which I am guilty of here), our K-12 counterparts demonstrate a tremendous enthusiasm for their work. This summit was a no-whining zone. More than that, our K-12 counterparts are thinking hard about the future of reading. As I heard more than a few times at the Summit, it's not about the future of the book—it's about the future of reading. We may not know what the container will be, but we do know that student academic success is strongly tied to reading and comprehension—and the future of reading according to the experts, is digital." -- Steven Bell, Library Journal, 10/28/10


• More than a third of Higher Education Faculty are on Twitter
  "Twitter use by Higher Education Faculty is more extensive than you might expect, and it’s on the rise. This last week I came across this report from Magna Publications, published last month, which discusses their second annual survey of Twitter usage among college faculty. The survey was conducted over the summer and had 1,372 respondents." -- K Walsh, Emerging EdTech, 10/31/10


• It’s Time to Get to Work. Arm Yourself with Knowledge
  "Regardless of your position within an organization, if you want to see change you need to institute change. Small steps often lead to big change. You have the ability to encourage others to have the confidence and courage to follow. The one thing that I find helps is arming myself with knowledge. You don’t know what you don’t know, right? One of the things I turn to broaden my knowledge are books. It’s amazing what you can learn at such a minimal cost, if you just put the time and effort into it." -- Beth Harte, Social Media Today, 11/1/10


• Same Campus + Real Time = Prezi Meeting
  "Nothing beats opening your email to find a whole new way of collaborating. Whether your students are engaged in Project or Challenge-Based Learning, or you want to collaborate locally or globally, Prezi Meeting just made learning better. For web-based presentations, Prezi Meeting reinvented desktop sharing." -- RJ Stangherlin, DEN Blog Network, 11/4/10


• How to Publish Blog Posts from Microsoft Word 2010
  "Every blogger out there looks for easy ways to publish blogs which don’t take up much time; hence the use of many specifically designed blog writing and publishing platforms is commonplace. However, a word processing application such as Microsoft Office 2010 can also be used an effective blog writing app with just a few simple steps." -- Hammad, Lost in Technology, 11/4/10


• Magazine Lifts Blogger's Article, Tells Her to Be Grateful for the Edit
  "But this story might be a new low. According to blogger and medieval recipe enthusiast Monica Gaudio, a print magazine stole her article, published it in their magazine, and, when Gaudio complained, the magazine told her she should be grateful for the exposure and they deserved a "thanks" editing it it for her." -- Sarah Jacobsson Purewal, PCWorld, 11/5/10


• The Rise of the 'Edupunk'
  "NEW YORK -- The “Edupunks” will inherit the Earth … or at least some attention. Those in higher education who continue hand-wringing over the relative merits of online learning and other technology-driven platforms will soon find themselves left in the dust of an up-and-coming generation of students who are seeking knowledge outside academe. Such was an emerging consensus view here Monday, as college leaders gathered for the TIAA-CREF Institute's 2010 Higher Education Leadership Conference." -- Jack Stripling, Insider Higher Ed News, 11/5/10


• Prezi Paths: Linear Storytelling in an Infinite Landscape
  "One of the most elusive concepts I find in most Prezi presentations is a lack of navigational structure – wildly zooming around a presentation. While this may make sense to the presenter, it is a completely disorienting experience for the audience and can certainly induce motion sickness."-- Andrew Davis, TippingPoint Labs, 11/9/10

ALAO 2010: Choose to Read Ohio

Choose To Read Ohio: Read Together, Read Ohio, Read for Life
Janet Ingraham Dwyer, State Library of Ohio
Amy Korpieski, Clark State Community College
Julie McDaniel, Urbana University
Ann M. Raney, University of Dayton

Session presenters highlighted their Choose To Read Ohio programs for attendees; each project was a recipient of an Ohio IMLS LSTA Special Grant project.

"Choose to Read Ohio (CTRO) spotlights Ohio authors and promotes reading across Ohio.The State Library of Ohio and the Ohioana Library Association encourage Ohioans of all ages to read and enjoy books together.”

Clark State Community College
The Death of Jayson Porter , by Jaime Adoff

“Clark State Community College (CSCC) is partnering with Project Jericho http://www.project-jericho.com/ (an arts outreach initiative) and the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center. Jaime Adoff will work with teens on a poetry slam and work with them on their original poetry. All participants will receive a bound volume of their individual poetry. Adoff will also hold a public reading for CSCC English students who have read the book. Teens in detention and CSCC students will have penpal discussions about the novel.”

Read the Project Jericho Poetry Slam chapbook!


University of Dayton Curriculum Materials Center (CMC)Trouble Don’t Last, by Shelley Pearsall

“As a part of the teacher preparation program, future teachers will work with three urban schools on the project. Students will read the title independently or as a read aloud and discuss the title in small groups as well as complete activities from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center’s lesson plans. The program will conclude with a visit by Shelley Pearsall and a tour of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.”

Urbana UniversityTrouble Don’t Last, by Shelley Pearsall
Beyond the River, by Anne Hagedorn

“Six public events will be held to promote community discussions and two field trips to three museums will be offered. Education majors will ready the book and create lesson plans to support teaching the book. These will then be used in partner classrooms at local schools. Parents will be encouraged to read the book with their children and participate in the public events. Associated activities will include presentations on the Underground Railroad in Champaign County, photography of Underground Railroad sites and the Champaign County Quilt/Barn Tour. Field trips to the Piatt Castles, Rankin House, and the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center will be offered.”

Additional information and lesson plans created by Urbana University Education students involved in the project are available.


*This was an ALAO-CMCIG sponsored session.

ALAO 2010: Research Grant Application

ALAO's Research and Publication Committee included information for the 2011 ALAO Research Grant Application process in every program packet.

"The Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) seeks to promote research, and each year the ALAO Executive Board may award up to $500.00 to support and encourage research projects proposed by ALAO members. Both ongoing and new research projects are considered. Grants are intended to help in funding such incremental research costs as the organization of data, the hiring of interviewers or other assistants, charges for computer time, and modest travel costs associated with research. Grants may not be used for purchase of equipment. Grants are limited to investigations related to issues in libraries, librarianship, and information science and technology.

Include the following in your application:

• Completed ALAO Research Grant Application Form.


• A written proposal of no more than two pages, single-spaced. Include the objectives of the research, a brief discussion of previous work on the topic, the methodology that will be used, plans for evaluation, the potential importance of the research results, and an estimate of the amount of time to be spent at each stage of the project. Avoid the use of acronyms and jargon without appropriate reference to full names and definitions. Please be clear and complete with your proposal. The Committee evaluates each application as is and will not ask for further clarifications.


• A current vita from the named applicant(s).


• A budget sheet. Briefly list the projected expenses for the project. Consider all direct and indirect costs, such as staff time, printing and postage, supplies, and services required to complete the work. Note any other anticipated sources of support for the project and include supporting evidence (i.e., a letter from your institution). Clearly identify which expenditures will be met by ALAO Research Grant funds.

Email completed applications to Mark Eddy, mark.eddy at case.edu, Chair of the Research & Publications Committee as an email attachment.

Visit the ALAO Research and Publication Committee web site for additional information including a list of past winners.

ALAO 2010: Presidents Program

View more presentations from Stephen Abram.

Stephen Abram was this year's keynote speaker for the President's Program. His presentation Building the New Academic Library, is embedded above and (as promised) are available on SlideShare. Questions posed to the audience during the program:

1. Is this the end of publishing as we know it?
2. Is this the end of libraries as we know them?
3. Where is all this change taking us?
4. Do people still value the book?
5. What's next?
6. What is the role for librarians in our info-future?

I found many points to agree and disagree with as his talk progressed. For instance, a new AU library web site is anticipated next spring; Abram provided snapshot results from a survey conducted revealing "only 29% of users found databases via the library web site,", "72% found trusted our (library) content more than what they found on Google," yet "81% still use Google" first suggests the decision to present our databases in a quick search environment could be a good one (slide 20). This personal conclusion, open to wide interpretation by all concerned with the results of said redesign, will be put to the test when the site is live. Much relies on how the site is presented and how we - library faculty and staff - are willing to handle the change internally. As Abram mentioned, our relationship with the user, online and in person, will need to be consistently re-examined.

Discussion relating to the end of the book as we know it was not (and is not) a point of agreement. Maybe in this instance the phrase 'as we know it' should be given more thought. Books are evolving to a more technology based format and have been for some time. In the last ten year's I've purchased books on cassette, books on CD, books with accompanying cassettes, CD's and DVD's. Electronic books have allowed texts to be included within online instruction, I'm a big an of Safari Tech books, audio of books may be downloaded and circulated, and we are quickly moving toward sharing between e-book users. However, as the internet is still in its infancy (slide 13), in many ways so is the concept and delivery of electronic books.

Take a few minutes to peruse Stephen Abrams presentation, there is a great deal of food - and books - for thought.

ALAO 2010: Venue Overview

The 36th Annual ALAO Conference, Academic Libraries: Now and Tomorrow was held October 29, 2010. This year’s location was the Columbus Crowne Plaza North conveniently located (in my opinion) near I-71 and I-270; interestingly enough it was the same exit from I-71 I take to go to our AU Columbus Center. Free parking was available and even arriving later than expected I was able to find something quickly.

I’ve been on previous ALAO program committee’s and tend to look at the conference hotel differently than some attendees; that said, generally speaking, I liked the venue. Registration was held in what appeared to be the coat check-in area. Even though I walked past it twice, it was advantageous not to trip over the tables or other assorted registration necessities. Plus this provided committee and staff members a place to call home during the conference (it’s important). The ballroom, used for breakfast, the ALAO business meeting and key note address, lunch, and poster sessions worked well. I was able to see the screens, hear the people talking, and plenty of room was available for seating. There appeared to be enough room for poster presenters and their audience and some presenters kept their posters available for those perusing the area after the designated poster time. The ballroom remained open during the afternoon providing an area for informal meetings if desired.

A smattering of attendees used their laptops in the ballroom; mine never left its case, so I am unsure of the quality of wireless offered. After attending Computers In Libraries, where areas are specifically set up for users (tables and power access), balancing my computer on my lap with the conference program and other freebies was not a priority. I took notes in the more traditional manner and am cobbling them together for this series of posts. Of course, had a used my netbook these posts would have been published in a more timely manner.

One of the most difficult tasks performed by the conference planning committee is deciding what session to put in what room; one room was large (Buckeye room, fabulous), several rooms were medium in size (two small rooms together), and other rooms were small. It is an art, not a science, to place the right session in the right room and there is no guarantee what will be the hot topic at any given time. As a result, there were a couple of overcrowded rooms and several emptier options for each session. It can’t be helped. However, hallway traffic outside of the rooms was particularly abysmal as we waited in line to traverse in and out of break-out rooms.

Breakfast had a nice assortment of goodies, lunch was particularly tasty with cheesecake for dessert, and the afternoon snack had something for everyone. All in all things ran very smoothly and the venue, with a lot of help from the program committee, provided a nice attendee experience.

Bloglines resurrected

It appears Bloglines has been saved from oblivion. After moving my feeds to Google Reader (complaining the entire time) and adjusting to the new service, an email from Bloglines/Ask.com team announced the service has been purchased by MerchantCircle. The email read in part:

"We have some exciting news to share about the Bloglines service! As you may have heard, Ask.com (http://ask.com/) has entered into an agreement with MerchantCircle (http://www.merchantcircle.com/) who has agreed to keep Bloglines up and running. Stay tuned over the coming months as MerchantCircle works to improve the Bloglines service by creating a richer and more local user experience." -- Bloglines / Ask.com

This creates a feeder quandary; do I continue with Google Reader, a service I am not thrilled with using, or return to my vacated Bloglines account? Since it appears my account will remain active, I may just wait and see what they have to offer. In the mean time, here is more information about the agreement:

• Bloglines
• MerchantCircle to Take Over Operations of the Popular Bloglines Platform
• MerchantCircle to Revitalize the Bloglines Service
• Exclusive: Bloglines Will Be Resurrected By IAC-Funded MerchantCircle

As detailed in the final link, TechCrunch reported this exclusively yesterday afternoon (my TechCrunch feed must have faltered). They provided a few more details:

"For all you loyal Bloglines users (the site has 2.7 million users), don’t fret. MerchantCircle will be keeping the former standalone service in place for non-MerchantCircle users, at the RSS platform’s present URL and Smith assures the the transition will be seamless for previous users (i.e. same log-ins and UI). One notable feature that will be missing is the Clippings feature, and users won’t be able to merge their saved clippings to the new platform. MerchantCircle will also offer Bloglines users customized local RSS feeds that users can opt into for hyper local news and deals. Smith adds that Bloglines has been tweaked slightly for a “richer, faster experience.”" -- TechCrunch, 11/4/10, Leena Rao

Early reader wrap-up

Tomorrow is the 2010 ALAO conference in Columbus! I am unsure if wireless will be available, but will take my netbook and hope to have the opportunity, patience, and ability to do quick conference blog posts. In addition to anticipating the keynote address from featured speaker Stephen Abram, I am looking forward to a wide variety of presentations ... and lunch. As a result, this week's wrap-up is a day early.

• Understanding Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons
  "I assume that when instructors want to know what they can or cannot do with copyrighted materials, they may often have a hard time figuring it out. I really wanted to understand the topic and provide resources to help others do the same." -- K. Walsh, Emerging EdTech, 10/24/10


• An Amazon Digital Book Rental Plan?
  "How much would you pay for a monthly subscription to Amazon's digital book content?" -- Joshua Kim, Technology and Learning, 10/24/10


• Over it Yet? Privacy, That Is
  "Earlier this semester a media law professor asked me to prepare a lecture on privacy to present to his class while he was out of town on business. Subbing, for me, is an opportunity to delve into topics that might have changed since the last time I taught a particular class. So was the case concerning the four types of privacy invasion."-- Michael Bugeja, Views: Inside Higher Ed, 10/25/10


• VT Students 'Pay it Forward' to Stop Bullying
  "Monday morning 500 students in an introductory to psychology class at Virginia Tech will receive PayDay candy bars in wrappers that read, "Pay It Forward." And instead of the routine lecture of the day, professor E. Scott Geller will urge the students to perform "intentional acts of kindness" -- and hand over their candy bar to a stranger, who hopefully will do the same." -- Jenna Johnson, Campus Overload, 10/25/10


• History of Online Video
  "The Internet has changed massively over the last years and the days of a life without www seem to have become long forgotten for most people already. Many youngsters could not imagine a life without ‘technology’ or Internet anymore. The biggest change online has been the emergence of video streaming though." -- Franky Branckaute, Blog Herald, 10/27/2010


• High Stakes in Ohio
  "As many states face billion-dollar deficits and struggle to maintain their quality of education with increasingly stingy budgets, few have remade their higher education systems as aggressively as Ohio has. Under Gov. Ted Strickland, the structure and financing of higher education have undergone dramatic changes, not least of which is a performance-based funding system that awards institutions government money based on retention and educational attainment." -- Allie Grasgreen , Inside Higher Ed News, 10/27/10


• What Facebook Tells Researchers About Friendship and Race
  "College freshmen are more likely to make friends with peers they share a dorm room or major with than they are to befriend those from similar racial backgrounds, a study on the Facebook profiles of first-year students found." -- Travis Kaya, The Wired Campus, 10/28/10

Break in the clouds

Tuesday afternoon was the grand opening for the AU Columbus Center IRC. Open for business since mid- September, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was an opportunity to meet and greet the center staff and see students are beginning to take advantage of this new resource - and the newly renovated book store next door. It was fun to see a student using the new roll-top laminating machine ...

It was also a blustery weather day; forced to pull off the road and wait out a downpour on the way to Columbus, I was relieved when only rain persisted during my return trip. Exiting the interstate I noticed the clouds, sunshine, and a phenobright light reflecting in my side-view mirror. I pulled off the highway and saw a beautiful double rainbow breaking through the clouds.

Weekly reader wrap-up

The sheer number of posts in my reader this week was astounding. After several days break from all things computer (with the exception of my online classes) I logged in Tuesday morning and was greeted with 1200+ unread feeds. Quantity does not equal quality; I admit to ruthlessly weeding and deleting posts to reach a manageable number. Then came the web equivalent of making copies of articles I wanted to read later and passing along the journal, I added posts to my delicious account and selected a few to post here. The result is this short, technology related group of posts:

• Search Engine History
  "We looked at the history of the crawlers and if you thought there was only Google, Yahoo and Bing this infographic will show you how wrong you are. For the Internet nerds among us, let this infographic take you on a trip down memory lane." -- Franky Branckaute, Performancing, 10/20/10.


• Student Dog Helps Students Get Organized
  "Student Dog is a freeware application that will help students stay organized. It will help students manage and organize their tasks in a more efficient manner. Managing and organizing your tasks will lead to better planning and actions. To put it in simple terms, this application will make your student life more simple." --Debaditya Chakravorty , Lost in Technology, 10/20/10
  


• OJC Technologies chosen to oversee ALA website migration to Drupal
  “Moving the ALA website to Drupal aligns us with libraries’ community-focused ideals. ALA will be able to engage with its almost 7 million website visitors in a lively way. Of key importance, member-volunteers who assist with the creation and maintenance of content will find it much easier to work in Drupal,” said Aaron Dobbs, the chair of the ALA Website Advisory Committee (WAC). -- ALA News, 10/19/2010


• Media, Rapid Authoring, Teaching, and 'Where Good Ideas Come From'
  "The other thought I had after watching the video is that this is the sort of work I want our students to be able to accomplish. Shouldn't our students learn to communicate visually and to tell stories with video, in the same way they learn with text? No 5 minute review or synthesis of Johnson's book can ever be as compelling as the video below - sometimes video is the most persuasive way to communicate." -- Joshua Kim, Technology and Learning, BlogU, Inside Higher Ed, 10/21/10

I've been working with Google Docs this week and hope to share my new favorite option, forms, next week.

More about QR Codes

The October issue of School Library Journal has two short articles about QR Codes and libraries.

• QR Codes in the Library: Use 2-D Barcodes to Offer the Coolest Service Ever
  "Libraries can use QR codes to deliver a higher level of support and interactivity to patrons. Even better, the technology’s a snap to implement at little or no cost." -- SLJ, Christopher Harris, 10/1/2010


• QR Codes Connect Students to Books
  "QR codes captured Schumacher's attention because of what students could create and link to in a school library setting. One library he found on YouTube, he says, created QR codes for students and showed how they could link to reviews, videos and even podcasts about the books." -- SLJ, Lauren Barack, 9/14/10

I've not had much feedback on my QR code literature rack, but have hopes it is catching students attention as they retrieve print-outs, staple, punch holes, and make copies at the print station.

(QR Code pictured, Library Cloud)

ACRL: Cyber Zed Shed Proposals

Cyber Zed Shed
Proposal Deadline!
Nov 1. http://j.mp/acrlczs


Are you a tech savvy librarian using new technologies in innovative ways? Adapting existing technologies to reach user needs? Here is an opportunity to share your innovations with your colleagues, library administrators, and others at ACRL 2011. The ACRL 2011 Cyber Zed Shed Committee is looking for proposals that document technology-related innovations in every area of the library.

Whether you are teaching in a classroom; answering questions from patrons; acquiring, cataloging, processing or preserving materials; or providing other services, we're interested. We invite you to submit your most innovative proposals to help us make Philadelphia the site of a truly groundbreaking conference.

Cyber Zed Shed presentations are 20 minutes, with 15 minutes to present a demonstration, and five additional minutes for audience Q&A. Presentations should document technology-related innovations in academic and research libraries. A computer, data projector, screen, microphone, and stage will be provided in the Cyber Zed Shed theater. You will be responsible for bringing all other equipment required for your demonstration, except as agreed to in advance.

The deadline for submission is November 1, 2010.

Questions about Cyber Zed Shed submissions should be directed to:

Kenley Neufeld, Santa Barbara City College, kenleyneufeld@gmail.com
Emily Rimland, Pennsylvania State University, erimland@psu.edu

Outside my reader

Keeping up with my feed list is easy; doing the same with journals that find their way to my office, not so much. I have developed the (bad) habit of copying articles I want to read, placing them in a folder labeled 'to read,' and forwarding the journal to the librarian next on the list. Here are a few articles that caught my attention this evening:

• Nurturing Innovation,
  "We can’t be held hostage by decisions made years ago. Our patron population has changed; we must as well." -- Meredith Farkas, American Libraries, October 2010
  
  
• Showing Our Strengths
  “Any questions?” library director Sasha asked her department heads, sitting back. A real Political Animal, Sasha nodded as the debate opened around the table. Within seconds, Fly-off-the-Handle Sue had protested the new administrative proposal. Slowpoke Richard geared up his predictable “let’s-wait-and-see” response. Touchy-Feely Candace tried to smooth some ruffled feathers. Meanwhile, Snake-in-the-Grass Sondra sketched out a plan on the flip chart. Smiling, Sasha and Just-the-Facts deputy director Bill enjoyed the interaction." -- Teresa L. (Terry) Jacobson, Library Journal, September 15, 2010
  
  
• LJ Back Talk: Go "Title Rogue"
  "What is it with the library profession and our obsession with individual titles? Is it insecurity? Fear? Elitism? Maybe the focus on titles is not entirely our fault. Perhaps the variety and inherent inconsistency found in this era of ever more creative job descriptions cause us to view titles as the most crucial part of the position." -- Sami Lange, Library Journal, September 15, 2010
  
  
• Something Old, Something New
  "In Aesop's The Ass, the Ape, and the Mole, a jackass complains he has no horns, while an ape laments he has not tail. A mole tells them both to pipe down, 'For poor moles are blind and in worse shape than either of you.' The upshot, be grateful for what you have." -- Lane Smith, Booklist Online, September 15, 2010.

YouTube Partnership Program

This morning I had the following email from the YouTube team:

Your video Google Docs - Creating Shared Link for Your Spreadsheet might be eligible for the YouTube Partnership Program, which allows you to make money from playbacks of your video.

If your video is approved, we'll start placing ads next to the video and pay you a share of the revenue as long as you meet the program requirements.

We look forward to adding your video to the YouTube Partnership Program.

Thanks and good luck!
The YouTube Team

Generally I would view this type of message spam, so I was hesitant, also known as highly suspicious, regarding its validity. The video in question is a 43 second clip created for my technology class; it illustrates how to create a shared link in Google Docs Spreadsheets. General stats reveal it has been viewed over 300 times, but considering four classes of 18 students each had access to the resource, if each of them watched an average of four times it would account for all the 'hits.' Oddly enough, YouTube Insight statistics ranks it as popular with 13-17 year old boys.

Mildly tempting, I am going to hold off on the opportunity at this time. The video is for educational purposes and while the bulk of my videos are embedded in Angel, I am not sure I want ads next to the content, especially when I do not know what type of ad may be optioned.

Weekly reader wrap-up

As an academic librarian in Ohio, one of the more interesting and important announcement / article links in my reader this week was from the OhioLINK What's New Blog:

• New Executive Director for OhioLINK Announced
  "Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut announced Thursday, September 30th that Jeffrey G. Trzeciak has been selected as the next Director of OhioLINK. He was nominated by the OhioLINK executive director search committee, which was formed on March 17, 2010, and co-chaired by Lev Gonick of Case Western Reserve University and Dr. Victoria Montavan of the University of Cincinnati" -- OhioLINK What's New, Zoe Stewart-Marshall (9/30/10)

More information about this announcement:

• Chancellor Fingerhut Announces Jeffrey G. Trzeciak as Director of OhioLINK
• Moving On, Mcmaster University Library, University Librarian

I need to stretch the term "weekly" a bit this week, the first entry is an article from last Friday (9/24) afternoon. It caught my attention because we discussed the idea of having a few Kindles in the library briefly in a staff meeting a few weeks ago after an update on OhioLINK's digital text book initiative. The remaining blog posts caught my attention for one reason or another (weeding and bad hair) throughout the week.

• Why There's No "Kindle" Freedom in Libraries
  "We're shifting to a publishing economy that makes sharing illegal. If you can afford it, a Kindle delivers books to you faster than any library has, and much more simply. Libraries are working with companies like Overdrive to license and share music and books, but the most popular platforms won't play with libraries, and these alternate systems cost a lot - before you even pay for content - and frustrate those who would rather use their own devices and think their libraries are being stupid and backward by not using the popular platforms." -- Inside Higher Ed,Library Babel Fish, Barbara Fisher (9/24/10)
• Half the Books are Checking Out Permanently
  "The average book in an academic research library is only checked out once every 50 years. That is why Library Dean James Bracken is looking to reduce the library’s in-house collection by 50 percent." -- Kentwired.com, Frank Yonkof (9/22/10)
• Can't Get Out of Your Own Way, Me Neither
  "It's one of those days: I can't believe how trapped I feel, how overwhelming every task appears, and how lousy my hair looks. It's all tangled together, of course, this sense of being unequal to the task of making it through the day." -- Brainstorm, Gina Barreca (9/28/10)
• Libraries Make it Personal
  "At a time when technology is said to be creating a gulf between librarians and students, a handful of libraries are trying to make their relationships with undergraduates a bit more personal." -- Inside Higher Ed, Steve Kolowich (9/28/10)
• Sudden Thoughts and Second Thoughts
  What's the Biggest Mistake You've Made as a Leader
  "It’s a long road and hard work becoming an effective leader, whether you are responsible for the vision and direction of a library, a single unit or program within the library that needs leadership for it to survive, or leading your colleagues in an association effort." -- ACRLog, StevenB (9/29/10)
• The Biggest Mistake a Leader Can Make (Video)
  Imagining the Future of Leadership (Series)
  "Through Imagining the Future of Leadership, a symposium at the Harvard Business School and accompanying blog series, expert thinkers gathered to investigate what is necessary today to develop the leaders we need for tomorrow. "-- Harvard Buisness Review Blogs (8/31/10)

This last one isn't a blog feed, it's a Facebook link and definitely fun ...

• Portland's Heathman Hotel Library is One of a Kind
  "Guests who wander up to the Heathman Hotel's mezzanine discover one of the most exclusive libraries in the country: 4,000 volumes, all signed by the author and most of them first editions." -- The Oregoinan, Tom Hallman Jr. (9/21/10)
  

Banned Books Week 2010

Banned Books week 2010 is September 25th through October 2nd; "Banned Books Week - Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, the annual event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted" (ALA, Press Kit). Students enjoy discussing banned and challenged books, as well as different forms of censorship. One of the more difficult concepts to grasp is while a book may banned or challenged by one group or school district, it does not mean it is banned for everyone.

The fall release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows re-opens continuing discussion of the series place on the most frequently challenged lists. Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian was recently challenged and removed from a school district in Stockton, Missouri. When perusing the Banned and Challenged Classics list, I am continually surprised by the number of titles I recognize because they are classics and because they were required reading for English classes in high school.

ALA Links

• About Banned and Challenged Books
• ALA Banned and Challenged Books
• Books Challenged or Banned 2009-2010
• ALA Banned and Challenged Classics
• ALA Challenges by Year
• ALA Banned Books Week on Facebook
• ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom
• ALA Banned Books Week Calendar of Events
• ALA Banned Books Week Press Kit

Articles of Interest: Banned Books Week:

• Ten Ways to Celebrate Banned Books Week
• Banned Books Week 2010: Which Books Drew the Most Fire Last Year?
• Banned Books Week: Ten Flashlight Worthy Books People Most Wanted Banned
• Banned Books Week 2010: 15 Iconic Movies Based on Banned Books
• 10 Banned Books You Might Not Expect
• Celebrate Banned Books Week 2010
• Banned Books Week: Q & A How Books Get Banned

I found this video on OIF YouTube Channel, it's an interesting look at the Top Ten Banned and Challenged Books of 2009.

And last year's Puppet Book Banners video from ALA's YouTube Channel.

Time to go find a great book to read, it's my choice.

Weekly reader wrap-up

Compiling interesting posts from my reader is quickly becoming a Friday lunchtime habit. I promise to quit complaining about Google Reader, especially if it quits crashing in IE (guess it's a Google vs Microsoft thing). I'm learning default to Mozilla for Reader.

• 30 Days of Back to School: Learning From and With Devices
  "It is pretty exciting to learn about what’s being piloted in schools and libraries across the country and learn how the use of these devices can improve and enhance teaching, learning, and library services for teens." - YALSA Blog, Linda Braun (9/23/10) *Note, YALSA site was down earlier this morning.
  

• YouTube Instant Creater Accepts Job at YouTube
  "Stanford computer science student Feross Aboukhadijeh is celebrating two milestones this week, his YouTube Instant site hitting one million visitors in ten days as well as a new job, having accepted Chad Hurley’s job offer over Twitter shortly after his Google Instant-inspired service caught the attention of the YouTube founder." - TechCrunch, Alexia Tsotsis (9/24/10)
  

• Stop Blaming the Social Media Platform, Focus on Your Relationships
  "We are responsible for how we engage, inspire and connect with our audiences. We are responsible for our actions, our privacy settings and how transparent we are. Most importantly we must take responsibility personally for our overall success in social media."-- SocialMediaToday, Pam Moore (9/23/10)
  

• 'Gateway to Knowledge' Now Rolling Towards DC
  "After a very long time in the planning stages, our “Gateway to Knowledge” traveling exhibition is finally becoming a reality." Of particular interest, "The truck then will head west to Winchester, Va.; Cumberland, Md.; Charleston, W.Va.; and Marietta, Twinsburg, Oberlin and Troy, all in Ohio."-- Library of Congress Blog, Matt Raymond (9/23/10)
  

• CFP: Journal of Library and Information Service for Distance Learning
  "The Journal of Library and Information Service for Distance Learning, a peer-reviewed journal published by Routledge, welcomes the submission of manuscripts." -- posted on A Library Writers Blog (9/23/10)
  

• Immersion ’11 Applications Now Available
  "ACRL is currently accepting applications for the Immersion ’11 Program Teacher and Program tracks to be held July 24-29, 2011, at Seattle University. The ACRL Immersion ’11 Program provides four-and-a-half days of intensive information literacy training and education for academic librarians." -- ACRL Insider, Margot Conahan (9/22/10) *Note, ACRL Insider was experiencing the same problem as the YALSA blog.
  

• A Snapshot: What They Read and Why
  "The new school year started, for us, just ten days ago. I used the Library classes time to catch up with my 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students about their summer reads." -- ALSC Blog, Roxanne Feldman (9/22/10)
  

Anything interesting in the blogosphere catch your attention this week?

New HP movie trailer!

I can hardly wait! It's time to refresh my memory and gleefully re-read my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Collection presentation & adjustment

Most of last year, and the bulk of this summer, was spent planning, purchasing, and processing collection items for the new IRC at the AU Columbus Center. The beginning of September brought an 'official' space planning visit; time was spent arranging furniture and the collection. Determining what should go where is fraught with challenge. For me, the IRC has always been a more fluid area. With the exception of this summer, I have moved one collection or another on the second floor to make things 'fit better' and be more useful and accessible for patrons. Therefore, one of the last things I said to the GA helping me was, live with it for a few months (this term). We can always move things around later.

Truer words ... After ordering media bags for the big books in Columbus, I developed display envy and determined to find a better way to present the main campus collection. Several days' research into library shelving led me to Library Design Association, they sent sample media rack bars from MJ Industries and Estey. I was able to test them in our stacks; one was perfect for audio books and the other for big books.

Last Friday the bars arrived, Monday I began the task of putting each of the big books into a hanging bag (it took significantly longer than anticipated) and organizing the collection. It looks wonderful! The bags hang spine out so labels on the top and bottom left corner are easily visible; the collection is presented in LC order. There is adequate room for users to browse the collection without having to pull big books from the cart.

This move has an added benefit, the adjacent collection is audio books and several of the big books have corresponding audio elements available. Placing the collection in LC order revealed a few holes, it would benefit to have a few more basic fiction and Spanish language titles (though I probably will need to purchase two more racks to facilitate the weight of these purchases). Signage is in place, the collection is ready for use, and notices were posted on the IRC news blog and scheduled to post on the library news blog later this week. The best thing? Students required to use big books in one of the children's literature classes have already commented happily on the change.

ACRL: Cyber Zed Shed Proposals

 
Five weeks until the Cyber Zed Shed Proposal Deadline!



Deadline Nov 1. http://j.mp/acrlczs

Are you a tech savvy librarian using new technologies in innovative ways? Adapting existing technologies to reach user needs? Here is an opportunity to share your innovations with your colleagues, library administrators, and others at ACRL 2011. The ACRL 2011 Cyber Zed Shed Committee is looking for proposals that document technology-related innovations in every area of the library.

Whether you are teaching in a classroom; answering questions from patrons; acquiring, cataloging, processing or preserving materials; or providing other services, we're interested. We invite you to submit your most innovative proposals to help us make Philadelphia the site of a truly groundbreaking conference.

Cyber Zed Shed presentations are 20 minutes, with 15 minutes to present a demonstration, and five additional minutes for audience Q&A. Presentations should document technology-related innovations in academic and research libraries. A computer, data projector, screen, microphone, and stage will be provided in the Cyber Zed Shed theater. You will be responsible for bringing all other equipment required for your demonstration, except as agreed to in advance.

The deadline for submission is November 1, 2010.

Questions about Cyber Zed Shed submissions should be directed to:

Kenley Neufeld, Santa Barbara City College, kenleyneufeld@gmail.com
Emily Rimland, Pennsylvania State University, erimland@psu.edu

my Google Reader

Once in a while on a Friday afternoon I succumb to the sirens lure of my bloglines account and share interesting posts. After a week of using Google Reader, complete with browser crashes while reading feeds, instances of "oops, an error occurred, please try again," already read items returning to new status, I miss bloglines. How much is user impatience? How much is Google Reader inconsistency? Time will tell. Meanwhile, here are a few posts from my reader:

• Blog U: Are You Using RSS?
  "I'm an avid RSS (Really Simple Syndication) user. I admit it. I've been addicted to RSS for a very long time. My feed reader of choice since 2006 has been Bloglines. I have more than 360 subscriptions." - Eric Stoller, 9/17/10
• HotStuff will be taking a short break
  "The HotStuff code relies very heavily on the Bloglines API and, with the annoucement that Bloglines will shut down on Oct 1st, this means HotStuff will be unable to fetch and process new blog posts." - Dave Pattern, 9/15/10

Enough self indulgence ...

• Lessons from the Oatmeal (the website, not the food)
  "This isn’t a “get a million followers NOW NOW NOW!” type of video. It’s just a look at what’s worked for Matt, and what people want on the Web." - Digitizd, 9/15/10
• Fearlessly Facing the Freshman Seminar
  "True confession: I’ve never taught freshmen in my life. So why am I, a provost, offering a class to 18-year olds? I asked myself this question earlier this summer as I enrolled as a participant in a faculty workshop." - Steven Allred, 9/16/10
• Is Lecture Capture the New Lecture?
  "Much like learning management systems (LMS) a decade ago, or podcasting just a few years ago, lecture capture is an emerging/arriving technology: data from the 2009 Campus Computing Survey indicate that 3.5 percent of college courses make some use of lecture capture technology, up from 3.1 percent in 2008;" - Kenneth C. Green, 9/15/10
• Drexel Freshman Get Help from Personal Librarians
  "With students spending more research time in front of the screen and less in the stacks, librarians at Drexel University are trying a fresh approach to helping new freshmen navigate their resources: 'personal librarians.'"- Travis Kaya, 9/14/10
• The Rhythm of Online Teaching
  "Thought I'd try an experiment of sharing with you some of the best practices I'm trying to write up about the rhythm of online teaching, in the hopes that you will provide some ideas and feedback." - Joshua Kim, 9/14/10

A great Friday afternoon option? My shelving rods (hanging media) just arrived from Library Design Associates! I am going to build, replace old shelving with new,and Monday I will gleefully move the big book collection to their new home.

How LibGuides Link Librarians

I'm not sure how many of you use LibGuides at your libraries or how many of you have even heard of LibGuides. Just in case here is a little background. LibGuides is a knowledge sharing system which allows librarians to create individual guides or pathfinders that link users to library resources. While providing access to resources these guides also embrace the push towards web 2.0 by allowing librarians to share RSS feeds, podcasts, videos and polls.
I have had the pleasure of using LibGuides for the past few years while working at Ashland University and at my current position at Stark State College. I love the simplicity of creating guides for my patrons and the fact that I can update or change information in the blink of an eye. Along with the ease and enjoyment of creating LibGuides I'm finding there is an added bonus feature, so to speak.
LibGuides are a great way for librarians of all walks, to network and share ideas. I know I am always looking to my colleagues for ideas and I'm finding that LibGuides is wonderful for this! One way to gather ideas is to use the LibGuides Community Site. The Community Site is set up as a database of its own. You can search for guides by subject, school, author or keyword. I not only get ideas about guide design and layout but I find great links to online tools and resources. But this isn't the best part. If you find a guide that you would like to re-create but you don't know how or you find a tutorial created by another librarian you can contact them! Each guide has the author prominently displayed along with their contact information.
In the past three years of using LibGuides I have been contacted by four librarians from all regions of the country, asking me how I created something or asking if they could use a particular activity I posted. On the flip side, I myself have contacted numerous librarians asking them similar questions and never once has a librarian ever said "no".
So many of us are working on similar projects or putting together similar courses for our students and faculty without much time to get them done. Why reinvent the wheel when we can work as a community and share are ideas. The networking options through LibGuides and other social media tools are endless for librarians!

Sad Demise of Bloglines

Logging in to my Bloglines account this afternoon, I was greeted with a prominently displayed message next to my updated feeds:

"As you may have heard, we are sorry to share that Bloglines will officially shut down on October 1, 2010." (Bloglines, 9/10/10).

The notice was accompanied by helpful instructions on how to export my feeds for later use. I've been using Bloglines for several years and enjoy the convenience of a web-based service; lacking the "bells and whistles" of other rss readers, it does what I want it to do. At least, it did. I have noticed a number of feeds that it no longer catches, downtimes appear with increasing regularity, and login began requiring word identification. Obviously, signs I ignored while mired in blogline complacency (smile).

• TechCrunch Exclusive: IAC Finally Kills Off Bloglines
• The Ask.com Blog: Bloglines Update
• ReadWriteWeb: The End of Bloglines is Nigh

I'm not relishing the task of finding a new reader and moving my feeds. I've considered Pageflakes, Netvibes, and iGoogle, but like the general reader format. The simplest option may be using Google Reader along with my other Google account items (Gmail, YouTube, Picassa, and Blogger). At the very least I need to move the feeds so I don't lose them.

The old fashioned way

For the first time since arriving at Ashland University Library, incoming freshman from the college of education are not required to take an introductory technology course. This course served a dual purpose of presenting basic technology skills to be mastered and, from a library and Instructional Resource Center standpoint, guaranteed we would see every one of them in the library at least twice during the term. This week my student workers have been helping me brainstorm marketing ideas.

We talked about creating a Facebook fan page, developing a short series of podcasts featuring the IRC collection, increasing the number (and quality) of IRC blog posts, adding instructional videos to my education LibGuides, creating new Prezi and Animoto videos, and continuing to update the second floor space (visual appeal).

In two weeks the Accent on Success classes, Ashland's first year experience program, will arrive in the library for instruction sessions with the reference librarians. Many of these classes are grouped by declared majors, meaning there will be sessions for education students led by education faculty. While there is generally not time for tours built into the classes, I can certainly provide a parting gift. I updated my old book marks to business cards, featured resources that would be of interest to new students, printed them in color (created in Publisher for the correct Pantone colors), used a square hole-punch and attached them to my IRC pens. I have 126 pens in a clear sterlite box that I will give to a reference librarian later this week. Sometimes simpler is better.