The 2015 Library Technology Conference just announced that they will be awarding up to 10 scholarships to staff members from libraries and school media centers. These scholarships are for those who work in smaller or rural communities, as the conference wants to “promote library technology proficiency and awareness through attendance at the conference.” The nuts and bolts:
applicants must work in a library or school media center in a city, town, or municipality with a population of 30,000 or lower
applicants who have not previously been to the conference, or applicants outside of the 7-county Twin Cities metro area, will receive special consideration
decisions will be largely based on the short statement (300 words or less) of how the applicant expects to benefit from attending the conference
each scholarship will cover registration (for either one or both days) and one night of lodging at a conference hotel (for those travelling from outside of the 7-county Twin Cities metro area)
The 2015 Library Technology Conference is March 18th and 19th. All scholarship applications must be received by Monday, December 1st, 2014. Click here to apply!
It’s that time of year again: time to vote . . . for the Goodreads Choice Awards! (Remember: ANYONE can vote!) The Opening Round began on Monday and goes through Saturday, November 8th. Check out the books and vote for your favorites to make it to the Semifinal Round – voting for this is open from November 10th through the 15th. And then those books will be narrowed down quite a bit, so if you missed some of this year’s best, you can do a quick read of the finalists before you vote in the Final Round (November 17th – 24th)! On their website, you will find previous winners, review 2013 winners, and rules & eligibility.
Having trouble finding effective ways to present information to your students and patrons? Animated GIFs may be your answer! Animated GIFs are made of a series of GIF files that are saved as one single file. The animations usually repeat for as long as the GIF is displayed. Animated GIFs began as an alternative to video, when videos were too large to post online. Karl Suhr of In the Library with the Lead Pipe says, “the animated GIF joined the blink tag and comic sans font as the gold, silver, and bronze medals for making a site look like it was ready to party like it’s 1999.” You’ve probably seen animated GIFs as a tool to share jokes online, but they are also great tools for presenting information and how-tos.
Suhr highlights a study by Lori S. Mestre that shows other benefits:
16 out of 21 participants chose GIFs over videos for tutorial purposes
“students with a variety of learning style preferences” were more successful in completing the tasks when they used GIF vs. video tutorials
GIFs take up less space – can be used “without special plugins or browser extensions
GIFs are present on the device once they are downloaded – no buffering or multiple downloads like is often necessary with videos
Want more GIFs? Check out our post on the Digital Public Library of America’s GIF-IT-UP contest.
Hour of Code is coming! During the week of December 8th through the 14th, students all around the world will try their hand at coding for an hour. According to the organization’s website, “the Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics.” The Hour of Code can be hosted at anytime during the year, but participants are encouraged to do so between December 8th and the 14th, which is Computer Science Education Week. Anyone can organize an Hour of Code event, and the website provides you with a nice how-to. Some statistics from last year’s event show the benefits of the Hour of Code:
15 million students participated around the world
it reached those 15 million users in just 5 days
more girls tried computer science than they have in the last 70 years
Recently, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) came out with their 25 Best Apps for Teaching & Learning for 2014. The apps were chosen because they foster innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration.
One of these apps is A Day in the Market (Araw sa Palengke). This interactive book allows readers to help the main character, a young girl, get dressed and ride the bus to the market. At the market, readers help her shop, sort food, and witness the goings-on of the Filipino market. AASL’s tip? “Introduce this multi-cultural picture book app to foreign language students learning the Filipino language,” as the story can be read in both English and Filipino.
The app is available on iOS ($2.99) Android (free), and is recommended for grades K-2. Both of the iOS and Android links will have screenshots like this one:
The 2015 Library Technology Conference just announced that they will be awarding up to 10 scholarships to staff members from libraries and school media centers. These scholarships are for those who work in smaller or rural communities, as the conference wants to “promote library technology proficiency and awareness through attendance at the conference.” The nuts and bolts:
