2-Weekly Reader

Teaching Search Engine Literacy with a Google A Day
"A Google a Day is a great new way to discover fascinating information about the world around all while learning how to use the wealth of the web to satisfy one’s curiosity. Moreover, it’s a great way for students and library patrons to build search skills that allow them to better put the power of Google’s search engine to work for them in researching for assignments and discovering untapped avenues for further exploration." -- Peter Murray, Disruptive Library Technology Jester, 7/27/11

71% of Online Adults Now Use Video-Sharing Sites
"Fully 71% of online Americans use video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo, up from 66% a year earlier. The use of video-sharing sites on any given day also jumped five percentage points, from 23% of online Americans in May 2010 to 28% in May 2011.Rural internet users are now just as likely as users in urban and suburban areas to have used these sites, and online African-Americans and Hispanics are more likely than internet-using whites to visit video-sharing sites." -- Kathleen Moore, Pew Internet & American Life Project, 7/26/11


New Tools for Handling Copyright on Blogger
"In keeping with Google’s public commitment to make copyright work better online, our team has been working on improving the copyright environment for bloggers and copyright owners alike. As access to the web grows, bringing new content and services online, it becomes even more important to ensure the rights of everyone involved are protected and understood. To that end, we’re happy today to announce the release of two significant improvements to Blogger’s copyright handling toolkit." -- Brett Wiltshire, Blogger Buzz, 7/25/11

How to Force Subtitles in an Embedded YouTube Video
"It’s been about three years since YouTube introduced improved automatic captions for some of the videos; in a year they became more common and last year they were enabled for all English-language videos.YouTube captioning is the way to help hearing impaired people to understand the videos and, coupled with automatic translation, it can also help non-English people around the world to access the video content. The feature uses Google speech recognition technology to transcript any uploaded video." -- Ann Smarty, Make Use Of, 7/25/11

5 Questions to Ask When Evaluating Apps and Ebooks
"When it comes to physical books and materials, librarians are confident reviewers and collectors. We can distinguish between a so-so beginning reader and a truly excellent one. We know what makes a particular work of middle grade fiction absolute shelf candy versus a hard sell. We can appreciate what goes into the creation of a brilliantly designed picture book.  The good news is that many of the same critical skills used to evaluate physical media are transferable when evaluating digital media.  Ebooks and apps, however, do present new challenges as well as new possibilities.  It can be helpful to go in armed with a simple set of criteria for evaluation." -- Kiera Parrott, ALSC Blog, 7/18/11

Are We Representative? About the Four-Fifths Minority
"The opening session at any ALA-affiliated conference is always a great way to build anticipation and momentum for the conference. Although hearing Dan Savage speak about the It Gets Better Campaign and his personal experiences resulting from coming out and adopting as a gay parent were intriguing, the one element that stuck with me was Roberta Steven’s discussion of the Spectrum Scholarship. The mission of the Spectrum Scholarship is “Improving service at the local level through the development of a representative workforce that reflects the communities served by all libraries in the new millennium.” Upon further digging, I found that Spectrum Scholarship applicants “must be American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander.” I can support this as well, as these racial and ethnic groups have typically been underrepresented in the LIS profession." -- Kyle Cox, Library Leadership, 7/18/11

The All-In-One on Humor and Public Speaking: 10 Ways to Make it Work
"Speakers love to inject humor into their talks and presentations, believing it relaxes the audience (and themselves) and puts folks in a good mood. But that's not always the case. Humor, like a banana peel, can result in something funny--unless it trips you up. Use these tips from the blog to find the right places and cases where humor in public speaking will work for you." -- Denise Graveline, The Eloquent Woman, 7/18/11