Pew Internet Report: E-Reader Ownership

A new Pew Internet & American Life project, E-Reader Ownership Doubles in Six Months, explores the recent growth spurt of E-Reader ownership as compared to tablet computers.

"The percent of U.S. adults with an e-book reader doubled from 6% to 12% between November 2010 and May 2011. Hispanic adults, adults younger than age 65, college graduates and those living in households with incomes of at least $75,000 are most likely to own e-book readers. Parents are also more likely than non-parents to own these devices." -- Overview, E-Reader Ownership, 6/27/11 

It would be interesting to learn more, such as those who use E-Readers via their local library (academic or public), or what percentage of E-Readers purchased outside of those for personal use were utilized in classrooms or libraries.

Weekly Reader

Discouraging EDU Lessons from Netflix Streaming
"I like Netflix Streaming because I can watch the movie or TV show that I want, and on the device that I want, as long as it is available in the Watch Instantly streaming format. My changes in Netflix viewing habits, I think, tell us something about how our students will approach our course content in the future. We may not like it, but our students are going to behave with our course materials the way I behave with Netflix. If course materials are not available instantly and painlessly on all their mobile platforms, then they will spend less time with these course materials." -- Joshua Kim, Blog U: Technology & Learning, 6/16/11


Syracuse Sends Personalized Video Messages to Admitted Students to Stop "Summer Melt"
"Incoming freshmen at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications received a different kind of message welcoming them to the fall semester—personalized videos from two prominent alumni. On Friday, freshmen received e-mails with links to 30 second-long videos from Dennis Crowley, co-founder of Foursquare, and Contessa Brewer, an MSNBC anchor" -- Jie Jenny Zou, The Wired Campus, 6/16/11

2010 Environmental Scan (ACRL)
"Every two years, the ACRL Research Planning and Review Committee produces an environmental scan of higher education, including developments with the potential for continuing on impact academic libraries. The 2010 environmental scan provides a broad review of the current higher education landscape, with special focus on the state of academic and research libraries. The document builds on earlier ACRL reports, including the Top Ten Trends in Academic Libraries. The 2010 environmental scan is freely available on the ACRL website (PDF)." -- ACRL Insider, 6/16/11

Civil War Project Shows Pros and Cons of Crowdsourcing
"The University of Iowa is the latest to use crowdsourcing to let anyone online help do work once reserved for scholars and archivists—in this case, inviting volunteers to transcribe a trove of Civil War-era diaries. Like other recent attempts to tap the crowd for scholarship, leaders of the Iowa project are learning that free online help isn’t completely free." -- Jie Jenny Zou, The Wired Campus, 6/14/11

QR Code Dress Plays Video When Scanned
"Although QR codes have yet to hit the mainstream, there are some locations where they’re very appropriate: namely, the Webby Awards, which were held Monday night to honor excellence on the web." -- Lauren Indvik, Mashable, 6/14/11

The All-In-One on Engaging Your Audience: 11 Resources for Speakers
"As soon as you realize that speaking isn't just broadcasting with your voice and a microphone, you begin to consider engaging with audiences, from making them think and getting feedback from them to handling hecklers and simple questions. Here's our best advice on engaging audiences for speakers, from the vaults of The Eloquent Woman."  -- Denise Graveline, The Eloquent Woman, 6/13/11

Pottermore? Is there more Harry Potter

The second official movie trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 (now less than one month away!) was released yesterday, the HP7 part 2 web site was updated, and J.K. Rowling made an interesting announcement complete with accompanying web site and YouTube channel ... Pottermore.

The second trailer is, as Harry might say, brilliant; it features a montage of scenes from previous films as well as HP7 part 1 & 2. Luckily, I have time to read and savor Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and watch HP7 part 1 before HP7 part 2 arrives in theaters. As to Pottermore, Ms. Rowling is not saying much at this point. An AP announcement published in the Washington Post yesterday noted:

"Spokeswoman Rebecca Salt confirmed Thursday that www.pottermore.com is a new project for the “Harry Potter” author. She said the site is “not a new book” and “not directly related” to the final Potter movie, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” which comes out next month." -- Washington Post, 6/16/11

We'll find out more in 5 days, 22 hours, 10 minutes, and 14 seconds (give or take).

Pew Internet Report: Social Networking Sites & Our LIves

A recently released Pew Internet & American Life report, Social Networking Sites and Our Lives. It presents information gathered about social networking, social networking sites, and the impact they have on our lives. 

"Questions have been raised about the social impact of widespread use of social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter. Do these technologies isolate people and truncate their relationships? Or are there benefits associated with being connected to others in this way? The Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project decided to examine SNS in a survey that explored people's overall social networks and how use of these technologies is related to trust, tolerance, social support, and community and political engagement."

"The findings presented here paint a rich and complex picture of the role that digital technology plays in people's social worlds. Wherever possible, we seek to disentangle whether people's varying social behaviors and attitudes are related to the different ways they use social networking sites, or to other relevant demographic characteristics, such as age, gender and social class."

"The number of those using social networking sites has nearly doubled since 2008 and the population of SNS users has gotten older." -- Lee Rainie, Kristen Purcell, Lauren Sessions Goulet, & Keith N. Hampton - Pew Internet & American Life Project, Summary of Findings, Social Networking Sites and Our Lives, 6/16/11

2-Weekly Reader

LJ 2011 Job Satisfaction Survey - Rocked By Recession, Buoyed By Service
"A recession that has rocked the bottom lines of libraries nationwide has not, despite any expectations to the contrary, managed to unseat the basic satisfaction of the workers who keep them ticking every day. That workforce is just as likely to choose a career in libraries as it was before the recession took hold: a full 86 percent said so, the same resounding number as in LJ’s last job satisfaction survey in 2007 (covered in a three-part series starting with “Great Work, Genuine Problems,” LJ 10/1/07, p. 26–29). When asked directly about job satisfaction, 70 percent of library workers across all library types and at all levels stated they were satisfied or very satisfied, just two percent down from 2007" -- Rebecca Miller, Library Journal, 6/1/11

When Adults are the Bullies
"Across the world, educators are more and more finding themselves involved in bullying and not just through their students, but rather actively bullying others or being a victim of it. What do we, as administrators and adults, do when the bullying taking place is among the adults in the school/district? I remember starting out as a teacher and being quite shocked by the cliques, hierarchies, and power structures within staffs of schools." -- Chris Wejr, Connected Principals, 6/2/11

YouTube and Creative Commons: raising the bar on user creativity
"Have you ever been in the process of creating a video and just needed that one perfect clip to make it pop? Maybe you were creating your own music video and needed an aerial video of Los Angeles at night to spice it up. Unless you had a helicopter, a pretty powerful camera and some fierce editing skills, this would have been a big challenge. Now, look no further than the Creative Commons library accessible through YouTube Video Editor to make this happen. Creative Commons provides a simple way to license and use creative works." -- Stace Peterson, YouTube Blog, 6/2/11

Introducing schema.org: Search engines come together for a richer web
"Today we’re announcing schema.org, a new initiative from Google, Bing and Yahoo! to create and support a common vocabulary for structured data markup on web pages. With schema.org, site owners and developers can learn about structured data and improve how their sites appear in major search engines. The site aims to be a one stop resource for webmasters looking to add markup to their pages." -- Ramanathan Guha, Official Google Blog, 6/2/11

College students eager to learn but need help negotiating information overload
"As another academic year draws to a close, college students are once again getting bad marks.Seems like everywhere you turn — in a stream of new books, blogs, newspaper stories and broadcasts — the same story is being reported: Today's students don't study much. Many are unrepentant slackers, tethered to Facebook and their smart phones on their way to another party. Even worse: Today's college students lack critical-thinking skills, leaving them unprepared for the workplace."-- Alison J. Head and Michael B. Eisenberg, Seattle Times Editorial / Opinion, 6/3/11

New Library Dean Has History with University
""Sara Bushong's new position as the dean of Bowling Green State University Libraries is the next step in a line of jobs that began with an interest in music and education. Bushong began her history with BGSU as a student, earning a Bachelor of Music Education degree and performing as a choir teacher, a school librarian, and was originally going to become a band director.She finds her transition from music to libraries fitting in the overall pursuit of teaching. "I just like the variety," Bushong said. "I felt I could continue working as a teacher as well but be able to work with all kinds of subject areas instead of just one or two." Bushong previously served as the associate dean of the libraries as well as two terms as interim dean and is excited about her new job." -- Bobby Waddle, BG Views News, 5/31/11

ALAO Newsletter: June 2011

The ALAO Newsletter, Vol. 29, Number 2, is now available. This issue features:

• ALAO President's Report
• 2011 / 2012 ALAO Election Results
• Membership Announcements
• Diversity Scholarship Award Winner
• Interest Group Updates 

Academic Library Association of Ohio (ALAO) is a Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL).

"We are over 600 members, representing more than 100 libraries, organizations, and businesses. We provide support, encouragement, and continuing education opportunities for academic library staff from all over Ohio through our workshops, annual conference and other programs." -- Welcome to ALAO.