AboutAnnotations is the place to read about issues, trends, and uses for new technologies for all libraries, especially public libraries. NSLS staff member Anna Yackle is a librarian with many years of experience who has worked in all types of libraries, but maintains a special fondness for public libraries. CategoriesNSLS BlogsRecent Entries
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AnnotationsAnnotations« February 2007 | Main | April 2007 » March 27, 2007 "Survey: Many Americans see little point to Web"I found this article from CNN amazing. Granted this only represents less than a third of the U.S. population but, that is 31 million people! I think libraries are right to focus our efforts on reaching and serving our public both online and in person but, this study seems to clearly state that there is a sizeable number of people who prefer traditional methods. Maybe more than we think. Definitely food for thought.
Story Highlights MOUNTAIN VIEW, California (Reuters) -- A little under one-third of U.S. households have no Internet access and do not plan to get it, with most of the holdouts seeing little use for it in their lives, according to a survey released Friday. Park Associates, a Dallas-based technology market research firm, said 29 percent of U.S. households, or 31 million homes, do not have Internet access and do not intend to subscribe to an Internet service over the next 12 months. The second annual National Technology Scan conducted by Park found the main reason potential customers say they do not subscribe to the Internet is because of the low value to their daily lives they perceive rather than concerns over cost. Forty-four percent of these households say they are not interested in anything on the Internet, versus just 22 percent who say they cannot afford a computer or the cost of Internet service, the survey showed...MORE Posted by anna at 10:34 AM | Comments (0) March 23, 2007 Brit Schools don't want "Boring" Classics"Thsi article appeared in the online version of American libraries direct... Schools refuse gifts of 'boring' classics Around 50 schools have refused to stock literary works by the likes of Jane Austen, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens after admitting that youngsters also find them boring. The worrying figures were released by the Millennium Library Trust, which donates sets of up to 300 books to schools across the country. David Campbell, who runs the Trust, also revealed that a further 50 schools had sent back the gifts as they were on the verge of closing down and another 40 said they had no library to store the books....More Posted by anna at 3:40 PM | Comments (0) March 21, 2007 Great You Tube Vid from American LibrariesThis is one of the best library related videos I have seen. http://youtube.com/watch?v=o0f_iAYWKlI Posted by anna at 4:56 PM | Comments (0) "Are You a Slob? Good, You're More Productive"After enduring many years of barbs about my workspace from various co-workers and bosses, I feel affirmed by this report from the Reuters news service. One of my favorite quotes is " Show me someone with a neat desk and I will show you someone with too much time on their hands." Sorry, I love all my neatnik friends and don't want them to change but, I have to admit to a case of sour grapes. Messy Deskers Unite! March 20, 2007 Her stacks of papers and photographs are so sloppy that the Texas schoolteacher won first place in a contest to find America's messiest desk. Sponsored by publisher Little, Brown and Co., the competition promoted "A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder," by Eric Abrahamson and David Freedman, a new book that argues neatness is overrated, costs money, wastes time and quashes creativity. "We think that being more organized and ordered and neat is a good thing and it turns out, that's not always the case," said Freedman. "Most of us are messy, and most of us are messy at a level that works very, very well for us," he said in an interview. "In most cases, if we got a lot neater and more organized, we would be less effective." ... MORE Posted by anna at 11:06 AM | Comments (0) March 19, 2007 One Woman's JourneyYou may have already seen this post but, I want to bring it to your attention again. What a great belnding of the old with Web 2.0 technologies to create something that is informative, engaging and all shiny and new.... One Woman's Journey "Left my family and started on my long trip across the plains." With these quiet words, Mary Ringo began the tale of her family's journey from Missouri to Utah. Join us as we follow her wagons across the plains through storms and desert, disease, Indian attacks, and death. When: Wednesday, March 21, 2:00 p.m. (E.D.T.), 1:00 p.m. CST To attend, go to Type your name and click "Enter" to go into the online room. A small software applet will download to your computer as you enter the room. Note: Use of Internet Explorer is recommended. Log on 5 minutes early to allow for the web conference software to be downloaded automatically to your computer. For more information about upcoming programs, see Online Programming for All Libraries (OPAL) ·Main Reading Room >>>>> Laura Gottesman Posted by anna at 2:25 PM | Comments (0) ERIC Releases Powerful New "FIND in a LIbrary" featureI just got this message off the LIBREF listserv and thought it news worth sharing... ERIC is pleased to announce the release of a powerful new Find in a Library feature on the ERIC Web site at www.eric.ed.gov. ERIC is partnering with OCLC to leverage the OpenURL Gateway and WorldCat to provide users with a link from ERIC records to electronic and print resources available in libraries. The feature dramatically streamlines the process of obtaining full-text. Best regards, Nancy Cawley Search the ERIC Database at www.eric.ed.gov Operated by CSC for the U.S. Department of Education _____________________________ Posted by anna at 1:46 PM | Comments (0) March 16, 2007 Great Spanish language Web 2.0 sites and resources, plus an e-newsletterThanks to REFORMA and my esteemed colleague Hector Marino, Des Plaines Public Library, I would like to share some great sites. The first two lists were composed by Hector and the link to the newsletter was from Roxana Benavides REFORMA President 2006-2007. If you want to blog in Spanish, please visit these places: Here is a list of Spanish-language sites for flickr or fotologs. Please check it out: This is the link to the America Reads Spanish e-newsletter # 9 with the REFORMA logo. http://www.enflyer.com/s/v?ib=3025;24616;28882;4616;18896;7636 Posted by anna at 2:34 PM | Comments (0) Pew Report on Latinos and the InternetInteresting report from Pew... Latinos Online: Hispanics with lower levels of education and English proficiency remain largely disconnected from the internet. 3/14/2007 | Report | Susannah Fox, Gretchen Livingston Latinos comprise 14% of the U.S. adult population and about half of this growing group (56%) goes online. By comparison, 71% of non-Hispanic whites and 60% of non-Hispanic blacks use the internet. ...Click on title below for report. Posted by anna at 11:37 AM | Comments (0) March 15, 2007 Oh, the humanity...Books are hail and hearty and ready for the future according to this article that appears in Forbes. There are also several great links to other articles about books attached to this story. Special Report "Books are humanity in print." -Barbara W. Tuchman Are books in danger? The conventional wisdom would say yes. After all, more and more media--the Internet, cable television, satellite radio, videogames--compete for our time. And the Web in particular, with its emphasis on textual snippets, skimming and collaborative creation, seems ill-suited to nurture the sustained, authoritative transmission of complex ideas that has been the historical purview of the printed page. But surprise--the conventional wisdom is wrong. Our special report on books and the future of publishing is brim-full of reasons to be optimistic. People are reading more, not less. The Internet is fueling literacy. Giving books away online increases off-line readership. New forms of expression--wikis, networked books...MORE Posted by anna at 12:38 PM | Comments (0) March 6, 2007 What's That on Your Screen?Another hair raising article, this one from the Times of London Internet porn pop-ups cost this teacher her job and her freedom A teacher faces up to 40 years in jail for exposing her pupils to online pornography, amid an outcry from computer experts that she is the innocent victim of malicious software. In a case that has become a cause celebre in the online world, where millions of rogue websites appear unsolicited on computer screens every day, Julie Amero is gathering a network of supporters who claim that she has been wrongly convicted over an incident she says has destroyed her life. Amero, a supply teacher in the small Connecticut town of Windham, was convicted last month for exposing her class of 12-year-olds to graphic sexual images on the classroom computer. She contends the images were inadvertently thrust onto the screen by malicious software that she was powerless to stop. " I'm scared" said Amero, 40. "i'm just beside myself over something I didn't do." The case has become the internet-age equivalent of a teacher accused by a pupil of sexual assault, but this time--as one blogger in support of Amero claims -- it appears she has been "framed by the computer." Many computer users say that what has befallen her could happen to anybody. Posted by anna at 11:26 AM | Comments (1) "Largest Library Closure "This article from the San Francisco Chronicle is pretty scary. .. Largest library closure in U.S. looms Sunday, March 4, 2007 Medford, Ore. -- Pat Hardy hefted two book bags stuffed with "cozy murder mysteries" through the snow to Ella Fitzsimmons' front door at the Blue Spruce Mobile Estates trailer park. "I brought you extra, because this will be your last delivery," said Hardy, who has been bringing the bloodless whodunits to the homebound 78-year-old every month for the last several years. Fitzsimmons' literary lifeline will be cut April 7, when Jackson County in southern Oregon shuts down its entire public library system. The 15 libraries serving this rural forest community lost $7 million in federal funding this year -- nearly 80 percent of the system's budget....MORE Posted by anna at 9:43 AM | Comments (0) March 5, 2007 Would Be Authors and Podcasting Go Together Like...The New York Times recently ran an article about wanna be authors using podcasting to get their stories told. I love the raw vitality and the immediate urgency of this concept. After reading an author's work, I often feel like I have some sort of connection with them. Kind of like having your brains rub-up against each other in a crowded space, you share ions and particles of ideas for a brief time. Hearing the author read each new installment could really be a whole new level of intellectual intimacy and could bring new depths to the "reader's" experience and enjoyment. From the author's viewpoint, what a great way to remove the barriers and filters between your words and the people who want to hear your story. This has some profound implications for publishing and libraries. Many libraries sponsor writing workshops, here's our chance to fill a new niche. Podcasting for the struggling author.
Skip to next paragraph Several times a week Mr. Sigler, 37, steps into a walk-in closet in his San Francisco home. He reads into a microphone that connects to his computer via a sound mixer. Hanging shirts envelop him, masking ambient sound. After being snubbed by publishers for years, Mr. Sigler began recording his first book, “EarthCore,” in 2005. He offered it as a podcast in 22 episodes (roughly 45 minutes each) that he posted online and sent free to subscribers for downloading. Before long, Mr. Sigler had 5,000 listeners; by the time he finished releasing his second novel, “Ancestor,” last January, he had 30,000, as he does for “The Rookie,” which is playing now.... MORE Posted by anna at 12:30 PM | Comments (0) |
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