Category Archives: Special

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

U of M Libraries Send Books to Google for Digitization Project

This month the U of M Libraries will be sending resources to Google as part of a larger digitization project that was agreed upon in 2007 by Google and several Big 10 universities. The U of M will be working with Google to digitize resources on the topics of Scandinavian literature, bee-keeping, forestry, and area studies collections. In all, the U of M Libraries will be sending more than 1 million books and bound journals to Google for digitization.  

Once the materials are digitized and verified that they are public domain, Google will provide copies of the digital files to libraries. For more information, consider viewing the following links: http://tinyurl.com/2cqlxkf, http://tinyurl.com/2cr2kyw, http://tinyurl.com/2e6glx5.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

iPad Trends of Interest

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Apple’s new iPad is all the rage. It’s hard to get through a day without hearing about the iPad on the news, radio, or through RSS Feeds. A lot of people have A LOT to say about the iPad, but for this post, we’re bringing it on home to some iPad trends of interest to CMLE members.

News emerged on March 30th that Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania is “giving” all of its full-time students iPads beginning in fall 2010. Seton Hill is providing the iPad to its students as part of its new Technology Advantage Program. The goal of the Technology Advantage Program is to “…provide students with the best in technology and collaborative learning tools, ensuring that Seton Hill students will be uniquely suited to whatever careers they choose.” It sounds like they’re especially interested in the iPad’s ability to download and display textbooks. For more information direct from the source, try this link … http://www.setonhill.edu/ipad/. For additional coverage, visit these news stories: http://tinyurl.com/yb87ttz, http://tinyurl.com/y9uqfxm.

The iPad craze hits closer to home at GFW Schools in southern Minnesota. News broke on April 12th that the high school is in the process of providing an iPad to each of its students.  The Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop School Board’s new $265,000 tech program will also provide Wi-Fi and technical training next year. At this time a group of students and teachers are test driving the iPads and will soon develop a plan for implementing and using the iPads to their full potential. Here’s an interesting recap provided by WCCO http://wcco.com/education/ipads.for.students.2.1628182.html.

Doug Johnson, of the Blue Skunk Blog, also provides some interesting iPad food for thought in two posts dated April 11th and April 15th. Be sure to read the comments too!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

One Book, One Twitter Update!

This is quick update to the One Book, One Twitter post from April 8th. Voting for the final book of choice started on April 13th and will continue for two weeks. You may cast your votes using the following link … http://tinyurl.com/ya89g7s.

Happy voting! We’ll be sure to update you when we know the winner! Follow the latest on Twitter using hashtag #1b1t.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

National Library Week – Communities Thrive @ Your Library!

April 11th through the 17th is National Library Week. CMLE would like to take this chance to thank each of you for all the hard work you do every day! From working with young children during story times, to information literacy sessions, to one-on-one reference interactions (and the list stretches on from there!), it’s really amazing what librarians do on a daily basis. I hope you’ll all take a moment to celebrate your library, the work of your colleagues, and your own dedication!

 In celebration of National Library Week, you may want to take a look at the resources available through ALA. This link http://tinyurl.com/cnm5hq will guide you towards the official National Library Week proclamation, this year’s press release, various national events, and the theme of this year’s National Library Week – Communities Thrive @ Your Library! 

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

One Book, One Twitter

Jeff Howe, a contributing editor for Wired Magazine and writer of the popular blog – Crowdsourcing, recently developed the idea of One Book, One Twitter. Inspired by “one book, one city” clubs, Howe posed the idea of an online book club that would hopefully pull in “zillions” of readers. Howe first proposed the idea on March 18th, and began collecting book nominations from online participants. All nominated books had to be available around the world, translated into MANY languages, and of general interest to all. As of April 6th, American Gods by Neil Gaiman was selected as the crowd favorite. Other popular nominations included Fahrenheit 451, 1984, Brave New World, Slaughterhouse Five, and Catch 22.

But, wait, not so fast… Voting isn’t over yet! By the end of this week, “judges” for the One Book, One Twitter club will be posting 4 other possible choices. Then, during the week of April 12th, participants will be able to vote for one of the “judges” suggestions, or can select American Gods or one of the other popular nominations as their favorite. In all, voters will have ten books to choose from. No word yet as to when the winner will be announced, but we’ll be sure to update you as soon as we know!

 This is something libraries should get behind, and just maybe…help promote. Imagine the possibilities, and how cool is it that a huge group of people from around the world are being exposed to great works of literature? What a wonderful way to promote a love for reading, create a community made up of people from vastly different backgrounds—AND introduce people to a popular technology!

To get involved:

1) Get a Twitter account!

2) Search for hashtag #1b1t

3) Read posts, you’ll quickly discover where the group is with the whole process.

You may also learn more about One Book, One Twitter at Howe’s Crowdsourcing Blog: http://www.crowdsourcing.com/cs/.