All posts by John

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist

The Blue Skunk: Why digital resources go unused, and what to do

Blue SkunkDoes your media center’s digital resources suffer from low use? Maybe you’ve promoted it, but students, teachers, and faculty just aren’t using it. Well the Blue Skunk to the rescue! In a recent blog post he talked about why digital resources might be unused. He also offers some suggestions to increase their use. Interestingly, one suggestion he really sees as an opportunity to build relevance and relationships with teachers and the administration.

The growing use of our learning management system, Schoology, makes this an opportune time to work with teachers to select content-specific digital resources. – The Blue Skunk.

Here’s what he sees as the problems with digital resources:

  1. Out of sight, out of mind.
  2. Difficult to promote.
  3. Low comfort level by staff. 
  4. Inadequate access to technology.
  5. Free, popular digital options.
  6. Slow change in assessments.
  7. Generic, not targeted.

Read the whole blog post now!

General, Public

In rural Minnesota, libraries can be only source for high speed internet access

MN broadband coverageIn too many places, libraries are the only reliable high speed access point. And no other place is this more apparent than in rural Minnesota. Taking a look at the Minnesota Office of Broadband Development’s website, we see map after map where broadband coverage is lacking.

Fox 9 in Princeton recently talked about this issue and even spoke to East Central Regional Library Director Barbara Misselt. “It’s not uncommon to see cars pulled up when the library is closed,” she said, “people using their devices from their car.” The need is there but as Fox 9 points out, it seems cost is the factor keeping companies out. There is hope, Governor Dayton is asking for more funds to expand broadband and the task force is working hard too. Let’s hope a change to broadband availability happens soon so that rural Minnesota is on equal footing with the rest of the state.

Read the article or watch the Fox 9 video now.

Academic, General, Public

Need a free book about FRBR?

FRBR: Before and AfterFor those hard-core catalogers and metadata librarians, Karen Coyle has done you a favor. First she wrote a great book on FRBR called FRBR: Before and After. The book gives a great introduction to FRBR explaining, among other things, what a Work, Expression, Manifestation, and Item all are in simple, easy to understand text. Second, she released it under the CC-BY license. Basically this means its free! Read the whole book now.

On her site, she explains why she did it:

“As promised, as of January 2016 the full contents of book available for Open Access with a CC-BY license. If you (or your library) can afford the hard copy I encourage you to purchase it. I earn $0 from sales, but ALA Editions generously allowed me to exchange potential royalties (which would have been quite small) for the privilege and advantage of having a professional publisher. This book would not have happened without their effort, and I greatly appreciate their willingness to make this exchange that is, in my opinion, a win-win-win (for me, for ALA Editions, and for readers).”

We hope this, along with other authors, increases the amount of books and articles under the Open Access umbrella. Well done!

Academic, General, School Media Specialist

AASL Recommended App: Remind

remindThe American Association of School Librarians (AASL) offers their 25 Best Apps for Teaching & Learning. The apps were chosen because they foster innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration.

This week we highlight Remind – an app that lets teachers text students and parents. In the app, “teachers, coaches, or administrators can send reminders, assignments, homework, assessments, or motivational messages directly to  students’ & parents’ phones.” AASL’s tip suggests teachers use it to let parents know what students’ homework is for the night.

The app is recommended for all students and is FREE on iOS and Google Play. They are available on a host of devices and usually cost money. Check out this overview presentation from Remind: