Children Reading in the Digital Age

There is an interesting article in the New York Times today about children's reading habits and interest in reading on digital devices along with some perceptions of the internet. The part that bothered me the most is that 39% of age 9 to 17 year olds believed that the information on the internet is "always correct." This is shocking. I'd be interested to see the demographics of that study and how much library time those students get. This is exactly one of the lessons learned in school libraries and shows why they are so important.

The Alchemist

I just finished reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This book was about a boy following his personal journey. Throughout the story the boy had to relinquish his possessions and essentially start over learning a new skill to reach his goals. He was taught to pay attention to signs and realize that there may be a greater plan for you than you think to follow your destiny. I have over the last few years read about Shamanism and often about how to pay attention to animals for some of life's lessons. I have begun trying to write some of these lessons as children's books. I have decided on a series of ten and have six already finished. I enjoyed this book. Personal journey stories are among my favorites. I would definitely recommend it to others.

SLA's 23 Things

A co-worker recently told me about SLA's 23 things. I thought it would be a good exercise to do in preparation for my upcoming workshop. It was created to encourage librarians to use the social software tools that are out there. The first step is creating a blog. Since I have done this many times through different services (Livejournal, MySpace, Xanga, and Blogger.) I did not feel a need to create a new one. However, I did feel a post would be appropriate with some insight on what I like about the services. My overall preference is Blogger. The biggest thing to consider is who is your audience? Why is the blog important to you or to others? Sometimes I feel that I don't need to write a blog so that others will see it and comment. It is something that I need to do as a writer to achieve a certain task. Other times it is important to reach a particular audience to get the information to many people at a time.

Here are a few ways in which I have used blogs.

Professionally, I created blogs for PALINET as a way to help support the needs of the library community for Interlibrary Loan and Cataloging Information. These started out as Blogger and moved to WordPress, due to the branding options available. The blogs are PALINET ILL and PALINET CAT. The updating has now transitioned to other staff, but I still assist them with pertinent information.

I also volunteer with the Springfield Township Library and have worked with the children in the Middle School group to have a blog for information and the events at the library for this age group. There are pizza nights for the group and so they came up with the blog: http://readingbytheslice.blogspot.com

This blog was originally created for my I am a Librarian project. I also created my Xanga blog for the same purpose, but the blogger one was more popular so I stuck with it. It was also very difficult to maintain multiple blogs stating the same information. Then it became important for the blog to be fluid. The momentum of the project is not as it was in 2004-2006 and so the need for a blog on it seemed somewhat silly, so I changed the purpose of the blog to reflect book reviews or important or interesting things that are circling the library community, such as SLA's 23 Things.

Additionally, I didn't want to hold on to all the papers from my daughter's daycare, but I wanted to keep the information so I decided to create a blog for my daughter, Harmony. Her blog is http://butterflysmiling.blogspot.com This is a great way to help keep the Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Friends, etc. informed about the changes in your child.

Blogging can become a phase if you let it. It can be hard to constantly update information but is also rewarding when you can. With Blogger it is easy to include photographs and videos and this aspect is very important to me.

Changes

Hello. I know it's been quite a while since I have posted to this blog. There have been quite a number of changes in my life since my last post. I moved, got engaged and found out that I'm going to have a baby. The baby is due in January. Dealing with life's changes, may have put a backseat to the continuation of the overall project and to the update of this blog. I just wanted to let everyone know that I have no plans on abandoning I am a Librarian. I hope to continue it as possible and I will continue to update the imalibrarian portion of the web page as I learn of additional libraries or changes to the existing IM services. Thanks for your continued support and interest.

Hipster Haiku

Hipster Haiku by Siobhan Adcock

Siobhan evokes the spirit of hipsters from all over. Some of her poems had me cracking up and other made me think about life and how things came to be this way. There were also many haikus that revolved around the bar scene, due to her work. I can understand that because I have written some poems at bars too. Many cultural statements are included in this work. Some I would go so far as to say are a bit more punk than hipster, but whatever...

My co-worker Beth gave this book to me. She stated that it made her think of me. It's funny how the haiku thing actually transpired from my twin sister and her co-workers. I think it's a great and simple way to de-stress.

5-7-5.

Want more: http://www.hipsterhaiku.com

A Day in the Life has been published (Note: Chapter 63)

Some of my writing has been published in a new book...

Shontz, Priscilla K. and Richard A. Murray, editors. A Day in the Life: Career Options in Library and Information Science. Libraries Unlimited, 2007. 464 pages. ISBN 1591583640.

Check out Chapter 63 Member Support Coordinator. This chapter was written before I was promoted to Associate Manager, Support Services at PALINET, but many of the duties are still a part of my job.

Table of contents, excerpts, contributor information, and more at http://www.liscareer.com/dil.htm.

Many people, not just those new to the field of library and information science, are curious about their career options. The editors of LIScareer.com have assembled 95 authors, each of whom describes a "typical" workday or work routine, sharing joys, sorrows, and annoyances in refreshingly candid fashion. In the process, they offer those interested in finding a similar job exposure to useful skills and advice across a wide variety of traditional and nontraditional jobs. In addition to public, academic, school, and special libraries, consortia, associations, LIS programs, vendors, publishing, consulting, and other non-library fields are also covered. This is a perfect guide for library and information science students, prospective information professionals, new librarians-or anyone considering a career change.

Librarians on YouTube

Tonight I went to the InfoTubey Awards. Information Today hosted the awards for libraries that created videos on YouTube to promote their services. They chose 5 winners from approximately 60 entries.

Here are the winners:

New Jersey State Library:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeQI25n8qPQ&mode=user&search

Seneca Library - Canada:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMVMgDWnoaA

McCracken Library - Kentucky:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjxkQKwkP3M and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu-TijjVs_g

Williams College Library:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwCUtpbUWgk

Arlington Heights Memorial Library:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZcw9Zx4ejA

And since the library from Canada could not afford to send someone to Virginia, here is the Acceptance Speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nntN8J5TSxU

PALINET sponsored the snacks and coffee, which was a fantastic idea by the marketing team.

And since my co-worker Catherine likes the book cart drill teams, I thought I'd feature this one from Pitt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFtjnxm_wiQ

And one that I think it pretty clever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrtYdFV_Eak

What are some of your favorite library videos?