Wednesday 28 July 2010

Library Day in the Life

This post is part of the 5th version of this little project "Library Day in the Life" wiki so that we can share what we do!
I used to think : how has anyone the time to do this? Who cares anyway? In fact it can be an interesting little time capsule for others and ourselves!

Here goes :
This morning began early : at 5.30 I began to think "how can I best contribute to the brainstorm sharing on use of presentation software that we are going to have at work at 10.00 today?" Maybe I should use my iPad for the first time to show how some of these little projects I have been trying have turned out? How well will it work in the wireless environment there?
Let's forget yesterday's 3 hours bafflement with Camtasia Studio followed by trying to play the feet and left hand at the same time on the church organ in the evening...

6.00 and time to get up. No time for exercises or piano playing today - it's straight into trying to get a Photo Story movie working on PBWorks on my iPhone.
Plenty of time to make the tea and still no image. Could do a full English and eat it before this would work...
Time to get the bus to work. Still so keen ..no time today for Paul Wellman's 'Glory God and Gold' about the Spanish excesses in 16th century New Mexico! Reading latest updates on TweetDeck, favouriting the best for later scrutiny.. then deep little sleep..where am I? Is this the ride home...oh no it's the journey in!!!

8.30 Hiding the iPad on the desk - don't want to let on about it yet. Hear that there's a video conferencing and "Oh no there's no meeting - the presentation software sharing is next week!"
What a relief so can forget the agonising over the merits of Jing, Photo Story, Camtasia, Movie Maker, Audacity etc. and how it all fits together.
Let's relax and try out a little video I made on Jing in one of our blogs : loads beautifully - so easy. Let's try it on my iPhone ...aargh it's invisible.
Tomorrow is my day off : Friday is the Mashup event in Huddersfield. We have to make our own badges - have to do something for this....
Let's return to yesterday's battle with Camtasia - that slide just didn't line up with my dulcet tones - 30 more minutes or dragging, cursing, poring over help pages - time for tea.

Let's put some photos on flickr - find out about possibility of storing a short video there. Will thisd help with the badge if I can get a QR code on the badge?

11.30-12.30 moving and shelving books as part of the rebuilding exercise overthe summer.
12.30 Lunch i9n the Business School building - more building work going on. Glad to see that the wall that was being constructed yesterday in front of the main door is only partial, creating a new slim-line ingress! Lamb Rogan Josh with rice - excellent.
1.00 My first Photo Story movie placed in flickr, and works with a QR code created in BeeTagg and read via I-nigma! It was a spoof "Art Show" made up of some photos I took last year, introduced by a certain John Farquhar-Robotham.



2.00 Create new little movie in Photo Story about University of Bedfordshire using photos taken today on iPhone, put on flickr create barcode and badge for Friday! Feel like a lie down.
3.50 Phone rings and have to meet earnest new researchers and give short tour of the library (hard hats not necessary).
4.20 Return to writing this. Decide not to mention the iPad - looking forward to playing with it tomorrow planning Scottish trip, Last-fm etc.

Monday 19 July 2010

InfoWhelm and Information Fluency

Here is a really powerful video from the 21st Century Fluency Project.
They say
"We live in a 24/7 InfoWhelm world. We have access to more information than we will ever need. This video will tell you just how much information there is out there. It requires a different set of skills than the ones we leave school with today."
I say
"What a world we live in and what an exciting opportunity for librarians to act as information guides".

Tuesday 13 July 2010

New students require new librarians

Just found a really interesting video via Dean Giustini's Search Principle blog where four High schoolers discuss how they use technology for communication, problems they have with traditional education, and how they learn best.
They speak of the convenience of texting; e-mail is for corresponding with teachers or your aunt; used to multi-tasking ; bored with lectures ; texting with th ephone that is like an extension of your arm ; you can learn via mobiles, text Google for definitions and social media helps "like to give us independence and freedom to learn".

So much of this we have read in other places but like the thing that stood out to me was like it was WHY do they have keep saying LIKE all the time? There were 78 LIKES in 6 minutes 18 seconds!
There's been a lot said about the Web generation not being able to write (I do n't really accept this - twitter can be a great way of making us succinct) but it's the way that they express themselves which I notice. At that point my grumpiness will cease.
I do- like- recommend the video!

Monday 12 July 2010

Ever wondered how Google searches?

Dan Nosovich has come up with an interesting infograph of how Google maybe works based on clues. He says "Google search really is amazing, and it's even more amazing that this entire flowchart (which is just a basic overlook) all happens in milliseconds."

Out Google Your Students!

Here is a short presentation given by Dean Giustini recently to some education students at University of British Columbia. Contains some really good ideas


and this great handout useful to help us use Google for more than a search engine!

Evaluating Websites Tutorial

This TeacherTube video from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Prescott may suite your need for a video to tackle the problem of how students should evaluate what they find.It's only 3 minutes long (I always favour the short ones...) and you may get some ideas here.

How do they (even) do that?

Pew Internet guide to teens, mobile phones and social media. Here is a presentation about this report by Amanda Lenhart.
Here are her Final Thoughts
  • Cell phones leap frog connectivity roadblocks for low income, minority teens and adults
  • Teens and young adults are not monolithic – so a multi-pronged approach is prudent
  • Changes suggest a move towards mobile…
  • … but teens and young adults do not always embrace the newest thing
  • Young adults know that you are watching, and are increasingly taking steps to manage their online reputations

Digital Literacy Handbook

Cassie Hague and Sarah Peyton have produced a useful Digital Literacy Handbook, for Futurelab. It is aimed at eduactional practitioners and school teachers in primary and secondary schools who are interested in creative and critical uses of technology in the classroom. Really useful for teachers and school librarians trying to influence teachers. With sentences lioke "Digital literacy supports th eprocess of young people becoming active meaning-makers" there is much here to warm of hearts of information literacy advocates.

Thursday 8 July 2010

Library Mashups

Library mashups, exploring new ways to deliver library data, is a presentation by Nicole Engard, who also wrote Library Mashups Exploring new ways to deliver library data Edited by Nicole C. Engard - ISBN 978-1-57387-372-7 Published by Information Today, Inc., 2009.

Adventures in Library Instruction Podcast


The Adventures in Library Instruction podcast series is a mine of information from well-known practitioners like Buffy Hamilton and Lauren Pressley.
In the latest episode, Jason and Rachel interview Chad Mairn, and talk about a variety of technology issues and questions, including bringing technology to new populations, QR codes, the future of technology, research, and the library, and how to teach Wikipedia. Oh, and how to update an information literacy tutorial.


Pic shows Apple store in London on day of launch of new iPhone.