Library News: Library of Congress Ventures into the Blogosphere

In case you haven’t heard yet, the Library of Congress now has a new blog at:

http://www.loc.gov/blog/

I’ve been watching it since it started, and so far, I like it. I’m interested to see what type of information and what issues will be discussed on this blog.

Stay tuned, folks!

Courtney

Education/Library Resource: Book Central

OK, I got sucked into this site. As soon as I saw it, I felt a compelling need to find a good book to read (but that could be near-graduation mania!).

Scholastic’s Book Central is a fun site for book news, reviews, and book recommendations for kids. Oh, and the rest of the site looks pretty interesting, too!

http://www.scholastic.com/titles/index.htm

Does anyone else have great sites to help kids find books?

Courtney

Vendor News: Browse a Book in MySpace?

Oxford University Press is looking toward social networking sites as places to sell books. See the full story at:

http://blog.oup.com/2007/04/widget/

This sounds like a great idea to me, but I wonder if they can provide “suggestions” based on the interests or hobbies listed in my profile. Hmmm, that would be nice…

Courtney

Database Tips: Cite This Item in WorldCat

Bill Drew (Baby Boomer Librarian) is glad to see the “Cite This Item” feature added to WorldCat.

http://babyboomerlibrarian.blogspot.com/2007/04/firstsearch-worldcat-cite-this-now.html

I am, too! Wow! I just tried this out, and it works nicely. Thank you, OCLC! And our patrons who don’t have software like EndNote and RefWorks thank you, too.

(Of course, then I had to add the book Bill uses as an example in his post to my Amazon wishlist, which just keeps getting longer and longer.)

Has anyone had a chance to use this in their library? Any great success stories?

Courtney

Technology Resource: Why Netcasting to Teach?

I like this quick and easy overview of podcasting – well, netcasting (?). There are several good ideas for how to use them to teach, and I like the brief explanation of how to “do it yourself.” Nice, simple explanation!

http://www.k12handhelds.com/podcasting.php

So, why did I say netcasting?

Ever since Apple started claiming trademark infringement for using the term “podcast,” I have heard some interesting discussion about it. Leo Laporte has started using the term “netcast” to refer to all of the shows on the TWiT Netcast Network. Robert Scoble suggests using the terms “audiocast” and “videocast” instead.

I personally have been trying to say “netcast” as a general term, but I like using the other terms to differentiate between the two – because it matters to those of us who only have time to listen or to those of us who like the visual. I listen to audiocasts while I’ve driving to work, but I can watch videocasts on my home television, so I like to know the difference before I download it.

Of course, it doesn’t matter what you call them, they can be a wonderful tool for teaching and library instruction!

So, are any of you using netcasting to teach your users? If so, please tell me all about it!

Courtney

Georgia News: _New York Times_ Librarian of the Year

Since I live in Georgia, I am quite proud to see that this year’s New York Times Librarian of the Year is one of our own Georgia librarians!

Board of Regents Salutes Thomas County Librarian on Being Named New York Times Librarian of the Year
http://www.usg.edu/news/2007/041707.phtml

YAY for Nancy Tillinghast!

Courtney