Category Archives: Special

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Google Cloud Print in Beta!

Printing… from your phone?! If you’re a Windows user and are lucky enough to have an iPhone or an Android smartphone, you can try out this new beta service now! Currently, your options for what to print are limited to select Google services. Additionally, it requires a special beta version of Google Chrome and will only send print jobs to printers that you’ve connected to your Google account. Review PCWorld’s article on this service, and follow the helpful steps they’ve provided to give it a whirl! Or you can bypass the PCWorld article and start directly with Google.

 Let us know how it goes in the comments area!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

How do you measure the size of the internet?

Focus.com recently created a fantastic graphic that captures the “size of the internet”. Take a look at the graphic directly from the Focus.com site, or take a glance at Mashable.com to view the graphic and a brief analysis.

Who would’ve known that 36 billion photos are uploaded to Facebook every month?

Image: ‘Facebook Friends’  http://www.flickr.com/photos/4everyoung/2093186582/

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Minnesota Library Futures Initiative Update

On December 10th the Minnesota Library Futurists gathered at the St. Cloud Public Library to discuss the general outlook for Minnesota in 2025, with the goal of creating a common framework for the Futurist’s work in upcoming months.  In preparation for the meeting, Futurists researched current trends and outlooks for demographics, economics, education, and technology. For each of these areas, mini-SWOT analyses were performed.

 Additionally, Futurists analyzed and discussed the current political climate and how it could impact the library landscape in 2025. Ideas for how libraries will move forward into the future began to present themselves as the day came to a close.  These ideas have been recorded for further examination.

 The Futurists are also excited to announce that a website and blog are now available. The website is available at https://sites.google.com/site/mnlfi2025/home, and will be used to convey information about the MN Library Futures Initiative, the 23 Futurists, the key focus areas, future-forward bibliographies, archived recordings of guest speakers (when available), and plans for upcoming meetings. Feedback and ideas from the library community are welcome on the MNLFI blog at http://mnlfi2025.blogspot.com/?zx=4e5a215efb8b40d7. The blog will include updates from the Futurists, but the hope is that those with an interest in the future of libraries will also post to the blog. Questions, commentary, and ideas about the future are encouraged.

The group’s next meeting will take place at St. Paul Academy on Friday, January 21st. The focus for the day is technology.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Staying App-licable with Apps!

An increasing number of libraries are developing applications (apps) for use on mobile smartphones. With a smartphone comes the ability to access a great deal of information and entertainment directly over the phone. More often than not, this information and entertainment comes to the user in the form of an app. Everything from games, to reference resources, to calorie counters, to ebook readers are available.  It’s really amazing what’s out there!

As patrons become increasingly comfortable and dependent upon their mobile phones and apps, it’s up to libraries to respond to this trend and develop apps of their own.

Recently, ALA recognized the Orange County Library System (OCLS) as a cutting edge library system due to their new app called “OCLS Shake It”.  “OCLS Shake It” is a downloadable app for the iPhone and iPad. It allows users to shake or scroll on their iPhone or iPad to have books, videos and other materials “suggested” to them by the library catalog. The app even allows the user to filter their results by genre, audience, and format. How fun is that?! The OCLS currently has five apps to share with patrons. Most of the apps were developed through partnerships with vendors.

Looking for more library apps? Check out this three part article on the top 30 iPhone apps from Ellyssa Kroski’s iLibrarian blog. Ellyssa also just shared Mashable’s  top apps to watch in 2011!

Locally, some of our Minnesota public library systems have an app available for the Overdrive Media Console. The Overdrive Media Console app allows users to read ebooks, listen to audiobooks, and find libraries… all on their smartphone!

What are your thoughts on apps? What are some of your favorites? What types of library apps would you like to see in the future? What types of apps would our patrons LOVE…if only we had them?

Image: ‘apps’ from  http://www.flickr.com/photos/ehecatzin/3287079932/

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Robot Teachers?

Could it be true? Are robots teaching classrooms full of children in South Korea? An article I stumbled across today on Yahoo News from AFP, titled S. Korea Schools Get Robot English Teachers describes this trend as it’s occurring in South Korea. Apparently it seems to be a success. It keeps children interested, allows shy children to express themselves more easily, and allows students in towns that have been “shunned” by foreign English speakers to learn English. Another article from CNN dated October 22, 2010 delves into this trend as well. Both articles claim that the robots are not replacing teachers, rather they are a learning tool available to students, and they act as assistants to the teachers.

Image: ‘Robot’ from http://www.flickr.com/photos/avoiretc/3441244946/