So, do you cringe when you are about to face your computer to do any sort of webcam type meeting? Read this short article from Make Use Of for sage advice on how to look your very best when participating in the webcam world. Everything from lighting, to pleasing backgrounds to double chins and nose hairs; it’s all here! Read the full article at http://tinyurl.com/bxfs8hu. Make Use Of, 11/2/2012.
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CMLE Discounts are Coming!
Have you been wondering why you have not seen the CMLE discounts yet? Are you wondering if our discounts might ever include e-books? Well, wonder no more! We listened to our 
members, and have taken the extra time and care to get e-book discounts this year too.
We have eleven book companies participating in the discount program this year, and seven of them are discounting e-books! Which ones will discount e-books? You will know within a week when you receive an email with all of the details including the special code you need to use in order to receive the discount. Drum roll please…..the eleven participating companies this year are:
Abdo, Baker & Taylor, Brodart, Follett, Gumdrop, Ingram, Mackin, Rainbow,
Sebco, Scholastic, and Usborne
Google Launches Open Course Builder
It may be old news to some, but mid September, Google announced yet another of its new pursuits. This new open source course building web application will serve the growing list of K-12 and big-name universities developing online classes. Supposedly, the website is a lightweight vehicle to bring course material online, track student engagement (using web traffic and surveys), and evaluate performance. According to a TechCrunch article, Google is hoping that big-name universities, such as Stanford and MIT, who have started to put their courses online for free, will adopt this new technology. TechCrunch, 9/11/12.
E-Readers vs. Tablets: Who Will Win?
According to SmartBrief on EdTech, e-book fans increasingly are reading on a tablet instead of an e-reader, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center. In fact, the survey found that of those Americans over 30 who read e-books, less than half do so on an e-reader. For those under 30, the number falls to less than a quarter. The trend has electronic-paper companies, such as Taiwan’s E Ink Holdings, scrambling to find uses for their product as sales slow dramatically. What do you think, will e-readers collect dust as the tablet market takes over? Read the full article at Reuters (10/28)
Social Reading: The Next Big Thing?
So, I came back from the MLA and MEMO conferences charged up with new ideas, which is a good thing!
And, maybe because of some new awareness, three interesting things have converged in my world within the last two weeks….
- One task I assigned myself is to finally enter my book collections into Goodreads, and take the hundreds of scraps of paper containing books I want to read, and enter them in my “to read” Goodreads shelf too. Now that there is a mobile app, I can go to the library and easily pull up my wish list right on my phone. And yes, eventually I can even scan in the new bestsellers while out shopping, that I want to read, but am too frugal to buy! So, I am well on my way with Goodreads!
- Then, I heard about Subtext, an app that allows groups of people to read books together online, and comment in the margins, highlight text, do polls, and other things you might expect to do verbally in a face-to-face bookclub. Free books, by grade levels too, so this app has K-12 schools written all over it!
- Then, I discovered a literature blog called, The Hub: Your Connection to Teen Reads, from YALSA,the Young Adult Library Services Association of ALA. This site provides a one-stop-shop for finding information about teen reads, including recommendations for great teen reads, information about YALSA lists and awards, book trailers and other book-related videos, and best of the best lists. They also just did a series of posts about “The Next Big Thing”, and the one about social reading caught my eye. Amazingly, they mention Goodreads and Subtext as tools for new online bookclub possibilities. So now, my head is buzzing with other new possibilities. Read the full blog post at http://tinyurl.com/9mkpygg.
Please share your comments about whether you use Goodreads or Subtext, and whether you already host or participate in online book clubs in your personal or professional life. Maybe we can form a little bookclub community!