Tag Archives: Resources

General, Public, School Media Specialist

Minnesota Book Awards Resources Available!

The Minnesota Book Awards is accepting applications from public libraries and public schools interested in receiving up to $500 in funding reimbursement for hosting an author program featuring a Minnesota Book Award winning or finalist author. Interested parties are encouraged to apply by November 23, but applications will remain open until all funding is allocated (which will probably be at least through the end of November).

For more information, please visit: http://www.thefriends.org/programs/mnbookawards/mba_resources.html#funding.

Bookmarks, posters, and reading guides featuring the 2012 winning authors and their books are available to MEMO members at no charge. To view the items and/or download the reading guides, please visit: http://www.thefriends.org/programs/mnbookawards/mba_resources.html.

To request materials, please email mnbookawards@thefriends.org and provide:

  • Quantity desired of each material
  • Complete address to which the items should be mailed
General, School Media Specialist

Laura Bush Grants for School Libraries

The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries seeks to provide books and reading materials to school libraries and students that most need them. The Foundation provides grants of up to $5,000 to help school libraries expand, update and diversify their book collections. In the last funding cycle, the foundation made grants totaling more than $1.1 million to two hundred      and  thirty-eight schools.

All Laura Bush Foundation grants are made to individual schools rather than to school districts, county systems, private organizations, foundations or other entities. This includes all public, private, parochial, charter, city, state, county and reservation schools — including special schools, social services schools, and juvenile detention center schools in any of those jurisdictions — that serve any combination of pre-kindergarten through high school students. Only schools where a minimum of 80 percent of the student body qualify for the free or reduced lunch program are eligible to apply.

Funds are only available for library books and magazine/serial copies and subscriptions. Get the details including grant application at http://www.laurabushfoundation.com/ Proposals are due December 1, 2012.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Recommended App: Word Lens

Word Lens lets you see the world in your language! Instantly translate printed words from one language to another with your built-in video camera, in real time! No network is required to operate the app; results appear immediately on your screen when you need it. It is best used on clearly printed large texts like signs or menus. Translated languages include: English, Spanish, Italian, and French. This app is available for most iOS devices 4.3 and later, and is optimized for iPhone 5. Additionally, the app is available for Android 2.3.3 (and up). It usually costs around $4.99. Want to learn more? Check out http://questvisual.com/us/ or watch this YouTube video.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Recommended App: iMotionHD

Recommended at the MEMO Conference, iMotionHD is a powerful, yet easy to use tool that allows users to create videos that incorporate time-lapse and stop-motion functions. Time-lapse is helpful because it accelerates movement – such as clouds or people passing through an area throughout the day. Others have also used time-lapse for accelerating plant growth or the sky over a 24-hour period. Stop-motion on the other hand, is an animation technique which makes a physically manipulated object look like it’s moving on its own – making your prop come to life on video! Pretty flashy – huh?

iMotion HD supports all orientations and works with all camera-equipped iOS devices. The basic iMotionHD app is a free download; however, the full version of the app sells for $1.99 and allows you to export videos (to Photo Library, iTunes Sharing Folder and Email), to upload to YouTube, and to organize videos in a video library. To find out more about iMotionHD visit the app in iTunes, or visit the iMotionHD site.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Social Reading: The Next Big Thing?

3 Comments

So, I came back from the MLA and MEMO conferences charged up with new ideas, which is a good thing!

And, maybe because of some new awareness, three interesting things have converged in my world within the last two weeks….

  1. One task I assigned myself is to finally enter my book collections into Goodreads, and take the hundreds of scraps of paper containing  books I want to read, and enter them in my “to read” Goodreads shelf too. Now that there is a mobile app, I can go to the library and easily pull up my wish list right on my phone. And yes, eventually I can even scan in the new bestsellers while out shopping, that I want to read, but am too frugal to buy! So, I am well on my way with Goodreads!
  2. Then, I heard about Subtext, an app that allows groups of people to read books together online, and comment in the margins, highlight text, do polls, and other things you might expect to do verbally in a face-to-face bookclub. Free books, by grade levels too, so this app has K-12 schools written all over it!
  3. Then, I discovered a literature blog  called, The Hub: Your Connection to Teen Reads, from YALSA,the Young Adult Library Services Association of ALA. This site provides a one-stop-shop for finding information about teen reads, including recommendations for great teen reads, information about YALSA lists and awards, book trailers and other book-related videos, and best of the best lists. They also just did a series of posts about “The Next Big Thing”, and the one about social reading caught my eye. Amazingly, they mention Goodreads and Subtext as tools for new online bookclub possibilities. So now, my head is buzzing with other new possibilities.  Read the full  blog post at http://tinyurl.com/9mkpygg.

Please share your comments about whether you use Goodreads or Subtext, and whether you already host or participate in online book clubs in your personal or professional life. Maybe we can form a little bookclub community!