Category Archives: Tech

Children's services, Programs, Tech

ALA, Google Seek Libraries to Apply for Coding Pilot this Summer

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(From School Library Journal)

“Is your library ready to code? The American Library Association (ALA) and Google want you. As part of Phase III of the Libraries Ready to Code initiative, ALA and Google are forming a cohort of 25-50 school and public libraries, which will receive resources and support to create youth coding programs to serve their communities. In turn, participating libraries will help inform the creation of a toolkit to be used to inform coding programs at libraries nationwide.

The $500,000 initiative—announced at Google Chicago June 22, during ALA’s annual conference—will involve a competitive application process set to open in mid-July and run until the end of August 2017. Both school and public libraries are encouraged to apply, according to Marijke Visser, associate director of ALA’s Office for Information Technology Policy (OITP).

Continue reading ALA, Google Seek Libraries to Apply for Coding Pilot this Summer →

Communication, General, Tech

Cool app: LibraryThing

Maybe you’ve already heard about the LibraryThing app? It’s been around for a few years as an app for iOS devices only, but they have recently launched their app for Android! (And it’s free!)

This app sounds like a great way to keep your personal library collection organized. And it even allows you to add media like DVDs and CDs. A few more features include:

  • Browse and search your library overall and by collection.
  • Add books, CDs, and DVDs by scanning barcodes. The barcode scanning is SUPER FAST!
  • Add items by searching by title, author, ISBN, etc.
  • Browse and upload covers, using your Android’s camera.
  • Do minor editing, such as adding books to collections and rating them. Major editing is done by a link to LibraryThing.com.

Check out their fun video here:

Do you use this app? We’re interested to hear how you like it! Leave a comment and let us know!

CMLE, Communication, Tech

Day Thirteen of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Human-emblem-OK.svg/200px-Human-emblem-OK.svg.png

You have had “those” days – the days when things keep going wrong, disasters just follow you around, and you get to the point where you just want all the bad things to just stop.

Summertime is filled with fun things, but can still add stress to your life!

The Internet is here to help you!

This is a very low-stress site, easy to use, and will help you to feel better right away: click the Make Everything Okay button, and just wait.

Feel better? Us too!

Check out the tag “Summer Fun Library Tour” on our site to read our entire fun series!

 

Services, Tech

Transforming Teen Services: Making in the Library While Learning to Fail

http://www.ala.org/yalsa

(From the YALSA blog, by )

“Makerspaces, making, and the maker movement have become frequent conversation topics among librarians. We’ve encouraged making in the library through programming focused on writing, drawing, designing, building, coding, and more. As informal learning and gathering spaces, libraries are by nature situated to invite collaboration and discovery. In many cases, making has been associated with makerspaces — independent spaces that provide tools, materials, and support to youth and adults with an interest in creating (Educause, 2013). Sometimes makerspaces are flexible, subscription-based environments, sometimes they are hosts to structured programs and classes with an attached fee. Some have a technology prominence with 3D printers and laser cutters, while others lend an artistic attention  by supplying sewing machines and design software (Moorefield-Lang, 2015). No two makerspaces are the same, just as no two makers are the same.
Continue reading Transforming Teen Services: Making in the Library While Learning to Fail →

CMLE, Tech, Training

Day Seven of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

Playing games to learn things is increasingly popular – and what can be better than making learning fun? Good instruction always means reaching out to your learners where they are, and working to connect the information you have to share in a way that speaks to them. Games can be a great tool for this!

In every kind of library, we need to work with our community members to help them build information literacy skills. This just sounds dull on the face of it, so making it fun with a game is a wonderful idea.

Minitex has made this a reality! They have a fun game called Information Fallout, designed to build information literacy skills.

“Information Fallout is a narrative-based learning tool designed to introduce information literacy skills to students….[It] sets out six learning objectives for students. These are assessed by a series of multiple choice questions embedded within the narrative. To proceed through the narrative, students must answer those questions correctly.

  • The student will be able to demonstrate that context influences authority.
  • The student will be able to identify an element of the creation process that may be an indicator of quality for school work.
  • The student will be able to assert the importance of citing sources.
  • The student will be able to rank a research topic based on a question as being more effective than one that provides an overview.
  • The student will be able to articulate that scholarship evolves over time.
  • The student will be able to identify one or more reasons why it is important to consult more than one source when conducting research. “

Take a break from your other summertime activities, and play a round or two of this game now! It’s not “just” playing games – you are doing an assessment of a potentially valuable professional resource. If it so happens you are also having fun- that’s not a problem!