Tag Archives: Trends

Academic, Check this out:, General, School Media Specialist

The Big 10 EdTech Trends!

Image by Livemom.com
Image by livemom.com

The 2012-2013 school year is coming to a close. Despite dwindling budgets, this past year continued to challenge many K-12 and Higher Education institutions to redefine learning and redesign traditional classroom concepts.

As a result, industry leaders such as SXSWebu, a technology and learning think-tank, took a hard look at the leading trendsetters in education during their annual conference held in Texas. Read Edudemic’s post listing the top 10 hot topics discussed by these front-line classroom educators. These trends should be of interest to K-12,  college, and public librarians alike!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

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.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

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.e-book

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
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Young Adults and Library Usage – New PEW Study

According to a recent PEW study, a majority (60 percent) of young Americans ages 16 through 29 frequent and utilize libraries. Most use libraries for conducting research, borrowing print, audiobooks, and ebooks, and for reading magazines and newspapers. According to the survey, high schoolers in their late teens (ages 16-17) and college-aged young adults (ages 18-24) are most likely to have read a book or used the library in the past 12 months. This is important news for libraries of all types, as it indicates a youth that is receptive to and familiar with utilizing their library.

Interested in finding out more? Be sure to visit the article for more details!

So, what do you see in your libraries? Are your youth receptive to the resources available at their media center or public library? How are they most commonly gaining access to non-fiction and fiction titles? Is there still a love for print resources?

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Smartphones Outselling PCs

According to research firm International Data Corp (IDC), smartphones outsold PCs in the final quarter of 2010 on a global level. Researchers indicate that the smartphone industry has seen a year-over -year increase of 87 percent in the fourth quarter. This is faster than most experts predicted, with many thinking that smartphones wouldn’t outsell PCs until 2012. So, how can we account for the success of smartphones? Mainly, PCs have market saturation, so it’s natural to see some growth in the “latest and greatest” product. Additionally, there’s something to be said for the convenience of smartphones and their ability to connect to information, people, or data sources almost instantaneously. Who can resist having an app for that?!!

Want to know more? Check out the following articles http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/d96e3bd8-33ca-11e0-b1ed-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1DTdKFg99 and http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/02/07/idc-smartphone-shipment-numbers-passed-pc-in-q4-2010/.

Image from: Osde8info http://www.flickr.com/photos/osde-info/4623612094/