All posts by John

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Librarians: fighting the fear of Ebola with information

ebolaOn October 14th, Lib2Gov in partnership with iPAC hosted a free webinar to “teach participants how to find and share reliable health information.” The webinar, titled “Fighting Ebola and Infectious Diseases with Information: Resources and Search Skills Can Arm Librarians,” is archived here and slides here. Here is the webinar description:

“Recent outbreaks across the globe and in the U.S. have made us all aware of potential public health impacts of infectious disease. Librarians find themselves assisting their users in finding credible information sources on topics such as Ebola, Chikungunya and pandemic influenza. Tune into this presentation by librarians at the U.S. National Library of Medicine on how to find and share reliable information.”

Besides the resources above, the library at St. Cloud State recently published a subject guide on Ebola as well as Scientific American’s listing of resources might be useful.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Ransom! Learn more about ELM databases

customLogoDo you want a fun way to learn more about the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM) databases? Well get ready to play “Ransom!” a fun game that helps you learn about what ELM has to offer. By exploring the ELM databases you solve clues that will help you figure out who facetiously stole the Minitex blue ILL tubs.

Although intended for library staff, it is open to anyone interested in exploring and learning more about ELM. Go on and give it a try!

Public

Reimagining Public Libraries

logo-newThe Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington DC, recently published “Rising to the Challenge: Re-Envisioning Public Libraries” a report detailing some strategies for public library success. In it they also give action steps for Library Leaders, Policymakers, and the Community.

View the entire 4 page report here: http://csreports.aspeninstitute.org/documents/Strategies_for_Success.pdf

Everyone has a stake in the healthy, engaged community that the public library helps to sustain. There are specific steps that individuals and organizations can take to set their communities and libraries on a path to success in the 21st century knowledge society.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Teacher Shadows a Student

shadows in PragueGrant Wiggins, the author of Educative Assessment and President of Authentic Education, recently shared the experience of a veteran high school teacher shadowing a student. “It was so eye-opening,” writes the teacher, “that I wish I could go back to every class of students I ever had right now and change a minimum of ten things – the layout, the lesson plan, the checks for understanding. Most of it!”

Some of the key takeaways from the experience were:

  • Students sit all day, and sitting is exhausting.
  • High School students are sitting passively and listening during approximately 90% of their classes.
  • You feel a little bit like a nuisance all day long.

The post has been so popular that Wiggins has even done a post-script. In it he summarizes the comments he’s received and makes a call for more teachers to shadow students.

The message of understanding students can apply to Academic Librarians as well. Jessica Olin’s recent post about the subject points out how the “Pedagogy of Convenience” should be overturned and librarians should strive not to teach things like “we’ve always done it” but rather engage students.

What do you think? Are you changing how you engage students?

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/lru6fh6, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

DPLA's public domain GIF contest

GIF-IT-UP-Banner-3-1The Digital Public Library of America (along with DigitalNZ) recently announced a GIF-IT-UP contest.  Below is an invitation to participate in an international competition to create the best animated GIF, reusing public domain and openly licensed content: http://dp.la/info/gif-it-up

Need inspiration? Check out more examples from Kevin Weir.

http://33.media.tumblr.com/de0110babc2836934c1ec5013b802b0c/tumblr_nbpb85vvRv1qlq9poo1_400.gif