EdTech’s recent article What Districts Should Know About BYOD and Digital Learning by Jonathan P. Costa Sr. delves into a topic of interest to so many of us. Costa writes about the challenges most schools face as they move towards BYOD and 21st century learning environments. To combat common difficulties, Costa provides five pieces of advice to schools. The advice ranges from “Don’t sweat the small stuff”, to getting the proper infrastructure in place, to doing your homework in order to thoroughly understand upcoming changes/challenges.
Category Archives: General
Just for Fun: ‘Legends of the Library Ninjas’ Graphic Novel
Are you looking for a friendly and fun way to introduce the library to potential new users? If so, consider taking a look at the
graphic novel Legends of the Library Ninjas created by students, staff, and librarians at Kansas State University Salina and Kansas Wesleyan University. The graphic novel tells the story of two students as they wander into their college library to do research for a paper (assigned their first day of class!). The students have no clue where to start…. until the Library Ninjas enter the scene!! Be sure to check out Legends of the Library Ninjas and read Library Journal’s review of the graphic novel, too!
ALA Releases ‘2011 Academic Library Trends and Statistics’
Today’s Press Release from ALA announced that the 2011 Academic Library Trends and Statistics annual publication is now available. The three-volume publication highlights key data from 1,514 academic institutions regarding collections, available services, staffing trends, and overall expenditures. The press release reveals that library expenditures for e-books has increased dramatically from 2010 to 2011 — with baccalaureate colleges increasing their e-book spending by some 109%! Of course with e-book expenditures increasing, money has to come from somewhere, and the majority of institutions report a small decrease in serials spending.
Other interesting data… Salaries/wages have increased by just over .90% for most institutions. Additionally, in the next five years, 15.9% of academic libraries believe they will lose space, 20.4% expect to gain space, and 58.4% expect no change.
To learn more, check out the Press Release.
Recording from American Libraries Live: Landing Your Ideal Library Job
Did you miss it? Last Friday, American Libraries Live held Episode 2: Landing Your Ideal Library Job via Google Hangouts. Host David Connolly led a fantastic discussion with panelists Jill Klees and Bohyun Kim. Checkout the recording of the webinar/hangout at http://americanlibrarieslive.org/blog/archive-episode-2
While you’re there, also be sure to take a look at the left panel; it provides a listing of upcoming American Libraries Live episodes.
E-Books and K-12 School Media Event Summary
Thanks to everyone who attended the E-Books and K-12 School Media event at RJ’s American Grill and Bar on Tuesday, January 8! Patricia and I were quite happy with the turn-out (20 participants!) and were glad to touch base with so many of you again.
The event kicked off around 3:30, with a brief welcome and introduction to the topic and the event from Patricia. Soon after, we launched Sue Polanka’s webinar recording. Polanka is a Head of Reference and Instruction at Wright State University and is the author of the No Shelf Required blog. Polanka shared some broad information about e-books, e-book readers, e-book lending, e-book publishing, and trends to be aware of. She is a big picture thinker, and provided a thorough overview for the topic of e-books.
After Polanka’s video, we conversed for about 30 minutes on a variety of topics related to e-books and K-12 media. The evaluations from the event indicate that attendees appreciated the opportunity to discuss e-books with others from around the region. And, that there was value in seeing where others are “at” with e-books at their media centers. Next, we took a break, allowing the opportunity for attendees to grab some pizza – yum!
The last video presentation was from Chad Mairn. Chad Mairn is the Information Services Librarian and Adjunct Professor at St. Petersburg College & Chief Technology Officer at Novare Library Services. Mairn was humorous and energizing, and talked about tips and tricks for library staff to help their patrons use their e-reading devices to their full potential. Specific focus areas included: dedicated and non-dedicated e-readers, new and innovative e-reading devices and software, current and upcoming e-formats, Digital Rights Management, privacy issues, and emerging technologies impacting reading in a digital age.
Attendees indicated that as a result of attending this event, they hope to:
- share what they’ve learned about e-books with other media specialists in their district
- publicize & market their current e-book collection
- engage in broad discussions within their district about e-books
- look into links and websites shared by the presenters
- investigate e-book publishers/providers