Pinterest, CMCIG workshop & Tellagami

I continue to curate - and create - information for my CMCIG Pinterest presentation on Friday; the session board is starting to take shape. Pinstamatic continues to be one of my 'go-to' resources for pinning unwieldy sites without requisite size pinnable images and for creating calendar reminders and simple maps for the workshop time and location.

Follow Diane Schrecker's board ALAO: CMCIG Workshop on Pinterest.

The IRC Pinterest site is updated weekly and will be ready for discussion. New additions include photos highlighting new IRC floor moves (collection reorganization) complete with links to blog posts, new materials kits, and ... probably one or two new Gami's. They will work nicely with the current Voki board to highlight various IRC collections.

Visit IRC @ Ashland University Library's profile on Pinterest.

The 30 second thirty-second time limit for Gami audio makes creating a script challenging, but it also makes the final result on-topic and to the point. When the thirty seconds recording time is over, the Gami recorder automatically stops and processes the audio. It took several revisions and edits to add pertinent information about the session to the second version without simply speaking faster. Here's the second (longer) version for the CMCIG workshop.

 

All of the completed session Gami's are available on my YouTube  CMCIG playlist.

Pinterest: 2014 CMCIG Spring Workshop

The ALAO CMCIG Spring Workshop is scheduled for Friday, April 4th. I'm excited to have been asked to participate in one of the scheduled sessions: Marketing CMC’s and Library Resources Using Pinterest. During the session I plan to discuss a variety of board types currently featured on the IRC Pinterest site that may be developed, such as:

• Curriculum Resources: Ellison dies, materials kits,  and activity books
• Assignment Support:  Cumulative tales, alphabet books, and counting books
• IRC Activities:  Mock Caldecott Panels
• Rotating Holiday Boards:  Spring, National Library Week, Poetry Month
• IRC Course Support:  LibGuides, IRC QR Codes, and Voki Tours
• Teacher Resources: Classrooms, Common Core, Infographics
• AU Library & IRC: Digital Sign, AU Library, and The IRC
• Just for Fun: Book Trailers and Library Memes

Pinterest is easily personalized, curriculum materials centers - and libraries - are able to quickly create content specific to the intended audience. What works for my IRC Pinterest site, may not be suited for another library.  Of particular interest is the availability of widgets allowing me to incorporate Pinterest boards into existing resources such as web sites, blogs, twitter, and LibGuides.

Pinterest's recent inclusion of animated gifs to their pinnable resources has helped to move the site beyond simple images and video. I have not yet created an gifs, but continue to explore ways to develop video resources such as Animoto and recently the app Tellagami.

I am really looking forward to learning about what other CMCs are doing with Pinterest.

Weekly Reader

Stupid Questions, Smart Answers
"'Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.' That’s something my dad used to say to me all the time when I was growing up. I’d ask something like, 'Hey, Dad, are you going to eat that piece of chicken?' And he’d say, 'No, I just put it on my plate to cover a bare spot.' Lesson learned: Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer. Unfortunately, we don’t always have that option. Sometimes, like when we’re interviewing for a job, we have to try to come up with a smart answer, even if the question is ... well, 'stupid' might be a bit harsh. Perhaps 'lame' would be more accurate. Or 'canned'—a canned question, just begging for a canned answer." -- Rob Jenkins, Chronicle Vitae News, 3/26/14

Melvil Dewey: Compulsive Innovator
"While most Americans know very little about ALA founder Melvil Dewey (1851–1931), nearly all are familiar with his signature achievement, the Dewey Decimal Classification system, which today governs the arrangement of library books in nearly 150 countries. Surprisingly, this ingenious search engine—the Google of its day—that he first published in 1876 reveals much about the man himself, as it was a direct outgrowth of the inner workings of his own mind." -- Joshua Kendall, American Libraries Magazine, 3/24/14

Higher Professional 'Ed,' Lifelong Learning to Stay Employed, Quantified Self, and Libraries
"The 2014 Horizon Report is mostly a report on emerging technologies. Many academic librarians carefully read its Higher Ed edition issued every year to learn about the upcoming technology trends. But this year’s Horizon Report Higher Ed edition was interesting to me more in terms of how the current state of higher education is being reflected on the report than in terms of the technologies on the near-term (one-to-five year) horizon of adoption. Let’s take a look." -- Bohyun Kim, ACRL Tech Connect Blog, 3/23/14

ALAO CMCIG 2014 Spring Workshop

Keeping Pace: Changes & Trends
in Curriculum Materials Centers
The Ohio State University, Newark Campus
April 4, 2014

Spend the day learning about how to keep pace with rapid changes and trends in Curriculum Materials Centers. Three main topics will be covered; edTPA and how CMC’s can support teacher candidate assessment, how to use Pinterest to market CMC’s and library resources, and discussion featuring connecting CMC programs and events to your community.

A tour of The Works, Newark’s Children Museum and lunch are provided with registration.

Interested?  
This year's CMCIG workshop will be  held at The Ohio State University's Newark Campus, Warner Library & Student Center Rm. WC #126, 1219 University Drive, Newark, OH 43055

Need more information?
Visit the ALAO web site for details and registration.

Have questions?
Contact Sharon Kerestes (skerestes at cedarville.edu) or Cheryl Ghosh (Cheryl.Ghosh at uc.edu). A workshop flyer is available on the ALAO web site.

Weekly Reader

Turns Out Most Engaged Library Users are also Biggest Tech Users
"It wouldn’t be a leap to theorize that the expanding role technology plays in American lives would lead to the demise of public libraries. After all, so many other industries, including the one that’s bringing you this article, continue to struggle in the digital age." -- Brigit Shirvell, PBS News Hour: The Rundown, 3/13/14

Are Student's Customers? Let's Hope Not
"To the Editor: David M. Perry’s article on consumer lingo in academe (Faculty Members Are Not Cashiers,” The Chronicle, March 17) is completely correct, but his argument about what is wrong with this lingo misses a key point: it’s not just that people who use this language devalue or misvalue education, but also that they completely misunderstand what a customer is."-- Clara Burke, The Chronicle: Letters, 3/20/14

Faculty Members are not Cashiers
"This month Texas A&M University at Kingsville posted a new job ad for a faculty member in early-modern/Renaissance literature. The first line of the "job summary" reads, in all capital letters: "PROVIDE EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE." A bit lower, the job description mentions that the selected candidate will have to teach four courses a semester while remaining "active in research, professional development, and service to the university and profession." -- David M. Perry, The Chronicle:Advice, 3/17/14

On Why Libraries Still Matter
"The short answer to the question of why libraries still matter is this: Not everything is available on the Internet, especially the free, legal Internet.You won't find most recent books, most magazine and journal articles, or back issues of most newspapers and magazines. Fee-based search services such as LexisNexis (www.lexisnexis.com) can help. Illegal "pirate" sites and BitTorrent services, on the other hand, can get you in trouble and are just plain wrong. Sometimes you need a library, and sometimes you need the services of a librarian." -- Reid Goldsborough, LinkUp Digital, 3/15/14

The Impending IT Headache of the 28 Billion-Thing Internet of Things
"The rapid growth of interconnected devices making up the Internet of Things will wreak havoc on data security, storage, servers, networks and end user privacy, according to a new report.There will be 26 billion "things" making up the Internet of Things within six years, according to a report released by Gartner. The implications for IT are profound — in particular for data center operations." -- David Nagel, Campus Technology, 2/18/14

4 Technologies to Help Students Find Their Voice in Your Classroom
"Students need a voice. By voice, I mean the ability to recognize their own beliefs, practice articulating them in a variety of forms, and then find the confidence -- and the platform -- to express them." -- Terry Heick, Edutopia, 3/11/14

ALAO 2014: Save the Date

Early Weekly Reader

15 Tips for Facilitating Online Discussion
"Facilitating discussions between students is one of those things that is infinitely easier when you’re teaching in a physical classroom rather than online. When the students are all in one room, discussions happen more naturally. Facilitating the same type of productive, useful discussion when teaching online is more of a challenge." -- Kati Lepi, Edudemic Online Learning, 3/15/14

U.S. Library Data: IMLS Releases Preview of 24th Annual (FY 2011) Public Library Survey
"The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has released a preview (summary and data) of the FY 2011 Public Library Survey." -- Gary Price, InfoDocket, 3/12/14

The Best Add-Ons for Google Drive
"Yesterday, Google introduced add-ons for Google Docs and Sheets. These add-ons allow you to add all kinds of functionality to your documents, including signing faxes, creating bibliographies, and more. While it's still in its infancy, here are a few of the best add-ons available at launch." -- Thorin Klosowski, Lifehacker, 3/12/14

One Email, Much Outrage
"Rachel Slocum’s problems began with an email she sent at the end of long day. It was Tuesday, October 1, and the federal government had partially shut down as a result of a budget impasse. The U.S. Census Bureau and Education Department websites were out of commission, leaving the students in her introductory geography class without access to data for an assignment." -- Peter Schmidt, Chronicle Faculty, 3/10/14

Six Online Rubric Makers Worth Trying
"I feel as though I’ve come across a lot of discussion about assessments as of late. Where are they most useful? What type of assessment is best for different types of subject matter? Which question type is most appropriate? How can I get the most information out of an assessment? These are some of the big questions I’ve seen thrown around." -- Katie Lepi, Edudemic, 2/15/14

How API's Connect the World
"Almost a year ago, I wrote about a deal in which Intel bought Mashery, a startup ReadWrite has covered closely over the years. Where once we thought of computing as an operation performed by chips in boxes, it now takes place at a higher level: Services connected by APIs, or application programming interfaces, power the Internet. " -- Owen Thomas, ReadWrite, 3/14/14

ALAO 2014: Keynote & Pre-conference Speakers

Empowering Our Communities:
Advocacy, Engagement, Outreach
ALAO 40th Anniversary
November 14, 2014
Kalahari Resort & Convention Center
Sandusky, Ohio


The ALAO conference planning committee is pleased to announce our key note speaker for this year's conference will be Courtney Young, the 2014-15 American Library Association President. Ms. Young's key note address will be "Diversity, Professional Development & Participation: How Academic Libraries Empower Communities."

For more information, visit the ALAO 2014 Conference web site.

A pre-conference workshop is scheduled for Thursday, November 13th, featuring Char Booth, Head of Instruction Services and E-Learning Librarian at the Claremont Colleges Library. Ms. Booth's pre-conference program topic is "Who Gives? Advocacy & Outreach That Make Things Matter."

For more information, visit the ALAO 2014 Pre-Conference web site.

Stay connected with ALAO on Twitter @ALAOorg and follow the conference hashtag #ALAO2014.

Weekly Reader: Academic Libraries

What Matters to Academic Library Directors? Information Literacy
"Whether they work at a big research university, a small four-year college, or something in between, academic-library directors share a “resounding dedication” to teaching information literacy to undergraduates. Beyond that, the priorities they set for their libraries depend on the size and nature of their institutions and how many (or few) resources they have to work with." -- Jennifer Howard, Wired Campus, 3/11/14

Academic Libraries: Ithaka S+ R Releases U.S. Library Survey 2013
"The new report was written by and Roger C. Schonfeld (Program Director, Libraries, Users, and Scholarly Practices) and Matthew P. Long (Project Coordinator at ITHAKA)."-- Gary Price, InfoDocket, 3/11/14

Ithaka S+R Academic Library Survey 2013
"In the Ithaka S+R US Library Survey 2013 report we examine how the leaders of academic libraries are approaching systemic changes in their environment and the opportunities and constraints they face in leading their organizations. While exploring key topics covered in our 2010 survey of library directors, such as strategic planning, collecting practices, and library services, in 2013 we also introduced a new emphasis on organizational dynamics, leadership issues, and undergraduate services." -- Roger C. Schonfeld and Matthew P. Long, Ithaka S+R, 3/11/14

Weekly Reader: Spring Break

Riding High: Brian Flocca on the Remarkable Process Behind His Caldecott Winning 'Locomotive'
"Brian Floca’s commute to his Brooklyn studio might be by bike or on a train, but it’s the F train, not the majestic steam train we see in his 2014 Caldecott Award-winning book. And, when he gets to work, it will not be the grand expanse of prairie he sees from his window, but the Gowanus neighborhood—right next to his very own Superfund site, the Gowanus Canal." -- Robyn Smith, School Library Journal, 3/3/14

Tips for Writing Good Multiple Choice Questions
"I remember with horror and embarrassment the first multiple-choice exam I wrote. I didn’t think the students were taking my course all that seriously, so I decided to use the first exam to show just how substantive the content really was. I wrote long, complicated stems and followed them with multiple answer options and various combinations of them. And it worked. Students did poorly on the exam. I was pleased until I returned the test on what turned out to be one of the longest class periods of my teaching career." - Maryellen Weimer, Teaching Professor Blog, 3/5/14

The Amazing Adventures of the Comic-Book Dissertator
"If a picture is worth a thousand words, Nick Sousanis likes to joke, his dissertation has exceeded the standard length and then some. Sousanis, a sixth-year doctoral candidate in interdisciplinary studies at Columbia University’s Teachers College, gets to deliver that line a lot. He is, after all, doing something pretty gutsy with his academic opus: completing the whole thing in comic-book form." -- Syndi Dunn, Chronicle Vitae News, 2/28/14