For Your Viewing Pleasure

This is just something I came across in my YouTube browsing, I thought you might find it as silly and funny as I did.

The Dewey Decimal Rap

Library Storage

After visiting the Law Library at the University of Tasmania I was astounded to find out that they have a lot of their items stored off site due to the lack of space for all of the collection. This is due to the fact that all items need to be kept as they can be needed and referred to at anytime. The Librarians do a great job of accommodating of much of the collection as they can, even loosing some of their own space as a consequence.
I can't imagine what it must be like to have to order an item or even numerous items from the off site storage area. It takes time and once the request has arrived it is not necessarily going to be the one that the client was after, therefore the process needs to be started again.
In Tasmania it is highly unlikely that we will ever be able to gain funding for a massive storage project such as that used by the University of Chicago in their new Joe and Rika Mansueto Library, but it would be great if we could. Check out the YouTube video below to see what I am talking about.


The Joe and Rika Mansueto Library: How It Works




Isn't it just amazing. I understand that we are a small state and it just doesn't seem feasible for us to have something this large, but surely we should be aiming to look at the possibility of completing a project for the long-term benefit of our University Library storage issues. It would bring jobs to the state, as well as bring us a state of the art library. Of course it makes sense to have this kind of library on the mainland, but it would be nice for Tasmania to have something. :)

DIY: Bookmark Monsters

You should check out this YouTube video I found. It shows you how to make bookmark monsters. I had a bit of a chuckle, she talks as much as me :). I thought it was a great project that any of us could do either for ourselves or with children or other people.



Here is the link to the blog that she got the idea from I Could Make That

Bookmarks

Bookmarks, a photo by fashion fucsia on Flickr.

I like to collect bookmarks. Admitedly I haven't got many as I just haven't had the money to spend on these little extras, but I do have a few. I have a really old antique one, some magnet ones, animals, holographic, business, seed, and the precious ones made for me by my children.

This is a pic I found on Flickr of some bookmarks. I love the colour and the simplicity, but especially the different colour ribbons.

Bookmarks are beautiful, cute or bizarre but the one thing they have in common is that they all serve a purpose, to keep the page we are up to. Well that is unless you have a child who happily runs to get your book for you and lets it fall out on the way, hence the magnet bookmarks are functionally my favourite.

Sharing some Flickr Photos.

stirring dust, a photo by brookeshaden on Flickr.

This one is magic. To me it is chaos in calm. Despite the turmoil around her she sleeps soundly. The photographer calls is Stirring Dust with the caption "Only in our sleep can we read the pages of our dreams".

What is an RSS feed?

Well from the guy who explains things so well, here is another YouTube tutorial.



On the right of this blog are some RSS feeds that I have added for you to look at. They are of blogs that I find interesting and are updated on my blog when they are updated by the author. This happens because I have set it up as an RSS feed, therefore I don't have to go looking at the blog to see when it has been updated, instead it automatically updates because of the RSS feed.

I generally use Google Reader to store all of my RSS feeds. I have many more than what I have listed on my blog. In my Google Reader account it holds all of the feeds and shows me the updates as they come through. It will advise me of how many I have not read and of the date in which they were updated.

It would be great for more libraries to create web based information and updates in which people could link to using an RSS feed. It would enable them to make sure that all of their clients are kept up to the nano-second up to date.

Exploring Wiki's

The best way for me to describe a Wiki is to get you to watch this great YouTube video.



I think that this video is a really straightforward way of explaining a wiki.

Here is a link to a library wiki called "The blogging libraries wiki". The purpose of this wiki is to collect links to library blogs, that is institutional blogs, not individual librarian blogs.

To be honest I didn't find the Wiki's to be particularly interesting. But maybe that is purely because I don't tend to use them a lot. We have been using a Wiki as part of our course unit and it has been quite helpful and fun. I am glad that I have been able to learn how to use one and do feel that it has a valid place out there in the world.

Wiki's can be used for collaboration. For instance for collarborative document editing, collarboratively-developed manuals, conference wiki's, planning and organising events.

There are a few different Wiki's that I would like to see set up within the Polytechnic library, such as favourite authors, study groups etc.

Thinking about learning.

This YouTube video was found while I was looking at another video of a 3 yr old digital native. The reason I am sharing it with you was due to the impact it made on me. The statistics given in it are shocking, the one about China was particularly interesting. Please watch it and tell me what you think by making a comment?

"This project was created to inspire teachers to use technology in engaging ways to help students develop higher level thinking skills. Equally important, it serves to motivate district level leaders to provide teachers with the tools and training to do so."

Nesbitt, B. (2007), A Vision of K-12 Students Today, viewed on July 2 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8&feature=related

"Library Boy" blog in the spotlight

Adrien, M. (2005), Library Boy, viewed on July 1 2011, http://micheladrien.blogspot.com

This blog is about legal research news from an Ottawa Law Librarian. It is written by Michel-Adrien who is a former news researcher/journalist and web producer, and a reference librarian in the federal capital (Ottawa, Canada) since Sept. '05, and is a graduate of McGill University. Whilst I cannot verify that this information is correct I can still say that this blog is of a high authoratative nature due to the content of it.
The blog is aimed at keeping you informed and would be suitable for tertiary students or anyone interested in things to do with law.
All of the links tested within the blog work and take you directly to some of the different government reports and websites. Each blog post is extensively linked to previous blog posts when necessary and also includes labels at the end of each blog post relevant to the posting. You can click on any of these label links which are more like subjects and get more information from throughout the blog.
The blog is regularly kept up to date with postings archived every month since February 2005. It contains no advertisements and is set out in an easy to read manner.


I would highly reccommend this blog to anyone interested in or studying law. It is extensive in it's posting with frequent links and great subject labels. It is extremely easy to navigate and I had no issues with any links whilst moving about the site.

Browsing and wandering around in cyber space

This week I have started the unit Use & Extend Own Information Literacy Skills (CULLB602C) as part of my Diploma in Library and Information Services. I am required to complete this blog as part of my assessment. Leonie, my teacher, has given us some great websites to look at, and as a result my eyes have been opened to a whole world of information.

As most of us all know the World Wide Web is HUGE!! and without the correct tools and skills at searching through it you wouldnt be able to find a fraction of what is out there to be found. Leonie introduced us to a new website, well new to me anyway, called Technorati. On this website I can choose to search by either Blogs or Posts. As I am specifically interested in all things to do with libraries I chose to simply choose 'Blogs' and typed in library. Numerous different library blogs then came up with the links to access them.

Here are some links to some that you might find interesting; Going Green @your library where you can read different posts about how to make green choices when it comes to materials, furniture and programs in a library, Not So Distant Future which is a blog that explores the intersection of technology, libraries, and schools. and lastly so that I don't go on forever is Charlotte's Library which is a blog with reviews of fantasy and science fiction books for children and teenagers.

That is really just a miniscule snippet of the variety of blogs that can be found by accessing the Technorati database of blogs. So as you can see I have been having some fun browsing and wandering around in cyber space. We can't all get to the places we want to or even find out the information we want with what is available to us, but with the time, a computer with access to the internet and if you are lucky a friendly Library Technician to help you, you can explore the world and the universe. You just need to start asking the questions where can I find it? and how?