BAM Challenge: July Review – Foundation’s Edge

Yep, I’m way behind. I had chosen another book for this month’s challenge and ended up hating the book, so it took me some time to find another book for this, as I was distracted by many other good books. 🙂

The July theme is Independence for Challenge #7. I read Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov. I had been reading through the Foundation series this year, and I finished this book as I was still desperately trying to find a book for the July challenge and realized it fit the theme quite well.

*<spoiler alert>*

Through the Foundation series, we see two foundations. The Foundation was set up when an empire was crumbling in order to eventually establish the next empire. There is also the Second Foundation, a group of mentalists that guide the First Foundation along the Seldon plan in order to help establish the next empire in an orderly manner as quickly as possible. During the course of this book, the 4th book in the series, the main character is led to realize that the future will lead to the tyranny of either group as they will end up in conflict resulting in one or the other dominating the next empire, and neither option is appealing. He instead chooses a third option in which neither group will control the empire, but they will instead reach a point of equality for the good of all. It’s an interesting point: the independence of interdependence.

*</spoiler alert>*

Now, I still have much catching up to do. I have decided which books to read for the next two challenges, but I will need to wait for the interlibrary loan.

Since You Asked What I’m Doing Here

Laura, the Superstarchivist, asks What’s a nice kid like you doing in a place like this? and wants to know what made us become a library employee.

I was in the M.Ed./Ed.S. program in School Psychology at Georgia State University, and I had already been thinking that I may not want to be a school psychologist for the rest of my life. I attended an instruction session at the GSU Library with Natalia Taylor, who was the subject liaison for the College of Education at that time. She mentioned the library’s psychology librarian, Lyn Thaxton, and I don’t think I heard much after that because I was only thinking about being a psychology librarian. Ironically, I had wanted to be a librarian in grade school but ended up on another path in college. It’s funny how things come full circle sometimes.

After finishing my school psychology program, I started the Master of Science in Information Sciences at The University of Tennessee, which I finally finished last year – YAY! I’m not a psychology librarian now, but I get to be a geek and learn new technology and then tell other librarians in Georgia about it. It’s a pretty sweet deal, and I’m enjoying it. I haven’t had any regrets about changing my career, and I have been fortunate to keep up with Natalia to let her know the impact she has had on me.

So, that’s my story (and I’m stickin’ to it). What’s yours?

BAM Challenge: May Review – A Long Way Down

And, finally, the May review. The May theme was Mother for Challenge #5 in honor of Mother’s Day. I read A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby.

An interesting look at the lives of four people contemplating suicide. All come from completely different backgrounds but are held together through a common struggle. The tie-in to this month’s theme is that one of the four is a middle-aged mother with a disabled teenaged son. She has spent her life caring for her son and has forgotten how to live a life, but meeting the others gives her an opportunity to learn.

I am caught up and ready for the July challenge.

BAM Challenge: April Review – The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments

OK, I’m finally catching up on the April and May reviews. The April theme was Beauty for Challenge #4. I read The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments by George Johnson.

Johnson confesses he had a difficult time picking the ten experiments for this book, and I don’t know how he was able to choose since there are so many great examples. However, he discusses ten experiments that not only changed scientific thinking, but were also examples of brilliant insight and scientific work. Science at its best. In reading this brief book, I easily see the beauty in what all of these scientists accomplished.

BAM Challenge: June Review – Cryptonomicon

The June theme is Knowledge for Challenge #6. I read Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. The irony of seeing this book on the list of ideas for June was that I had requested it as an interlibrary loan some time ago, and it had finally come in a few days before I saw the BAM Challenge theme for the month.

As for the book itself, the setting shifts back and forth in time, and, from cryptographers cracking enemy codes in World War II to building a data haven closer to present day, knowledge is quite often the turning point in the story. I love the way Stephenson weaves a story through presenting the perspectives of several characters that are unknowingly connected.

I confess I missed the last two challenges, but I do have books ready to read for the April and May challenge. I will catch up – hopefully before July!

Social Networking: Yahoo! for Teachers

Yahoo! recently released a new social network for teachers allowing them to share learning materials.

Once you have an account, you will be able to explore projects added by other educators by state, grade level, and subject.

You can also connect with other teachers at other schools in your city, county, state – or anywhere!

What looks most interesting is the Gobbler, a tool that allows teachers to build a project by saving images, clippings, links, and other information from websites to your projects in Yahoo! Teachers. You can also create handouts or worksheets using the document creator and add it to your project. All your projects can be saved in a portfolio and shared with other teachers, and they can share their projects with you.

To get an account and check out this new network, go to the Yahoo! Teachers home http://teachers.yahoo.com/ to sign up for an invitation. You will be sent a password for the Beta site. The Beta site will then allow teachers to register for an account.

BAM Challenge: March Review – How to Make an American Quilt

OK, this time I’m not late with my review for the Book-a-Month Challenge.

The March theme was Crafts for Challenge #3 in honor of March being National Craft Month. Since I love quilts and quilting is one the crafts I want to learn someday, I read How to Make an American Quilt by Whitney Otto. This is the story of several women in a quilting group in a small town in California. A different woman’s story is told in each chapter, and for each story, the author provides an analogy to some aspect of quilt-making. As each woman’s story is told, the reader also gets occasional glimpses of the other women through another’s eyes. It’s an engaging look into the lives of several very different women who still manage to come together to create quilts.

I’m ready and waiting for the April challenge!

Database Tips: Where did my My NoveList account go?

EBSCO released the new interface for NoveList and NoveList K-8 this week. Here is a preview if you don’t subscribe. If you do subscribe, the “Tour NoveList” link on the main page provides training materials and a video tutorial.

Now that NoveList is on the EBSCOhost platform, you may have noticed that your My NoveList account, if you have one, is missing. The personal accounts for NoveList have now been combined with My EBSCOhost accounts. So, if your NoveList lists or searches aren’t now appearing in your My EBSCOhost account (as is the case with mine), you can log in to your My NoveList account by adding “~1” to the username for your My NoveList account.

For example:
Username: jsmith
Password: books2008

will now be

Username: jsmith~1
Password: books2008

I spent some time over the last two days recreating most of my lists in My EBSCOhost account because I didn’t see an easy way to move them over. However, it was a good exercise in getting to know how the new interface works. This also means you won’t have to keep track of separate accounts for My EBSCOhost, My NoveList, and My NoveList K-8 since they will now all be in the My EBSCOhost account.

BAM Challenge: February Review – In the Heart of the Valley of Love

Again, I’m a little late with my review for the Book-a-Month Challenge. But, hey, I’m still hangin’ in there!

The February theme was Heart for Challenge #2. I read In the Heart of the Valley of Love by Cynthia Kadohata. The setting is Los Angeles about 50 years in the future. The government rations water and gas. Pollution and sickness are rampant. Loss of loved ones to death or police arrest is quite common. Yet, despite the gloom, we see how people find hope through the main character, Francie, a teenage girl on the brink of adulthood. She, her family, her friends, and her boyfriend still seek love and friendship in the midst of chaos and desolation. I am most impressed by Kadohata’s ability to juxtapose hope and despair in the same sentence.

Two down, and ten to go! Bring on the March challenge! I have my book ready.

Tech Tips: I *heart* Del.icio.us

I love del.icio.us! It’s my favorite social bookmarking application (although I will confess I haven’t tried too many others since I like this one so much). You can find my del.icio.us account here and see how much I love it by all the tags and bookmarks. 🙂

Getting Started
It’s quite easy to set up an account and start bookmarking. Since del.icio.us is web-based, you can bookmark pages and see your bookmarks from any computer. You can also assign multiple tags to each bookmark and then organize your tags making it easy to find all the great recipe sites you’ve bookmarked – or whatever your interest is. You can also build a network of friends on del.icio.us to see what your friends are bookmarking. Since privacy can be an issue, del.icio.us offers a “do not share” checkbox beside each bookmark, so you can choose if there are ones you do not want to share.

Must Have Add-Ons
If you use Firefox, there are browser add-ons that make bookmarking much easier.

1) The del.icio.us buttons add-on simply adds a del.icio.us button and a TAG button in your browser navigation bar. You can bookmark any page as you find it by clicking the TAG button.

2) The Delicious Bookmarks add-on is an updated version of del.icio.us buttons, which also provides a sidebar that lets you browse and search your bookmarks easily.

Delicious Bookmarks :: Firefox Add-ons via kwout

You only need one of these – not both. My only issue with add-ons is that I have yet to find an add-on that lets you manage multiple del.icio.us account easily. I actually have a few accounts, and I want an add-on that lets me choose the account(s) when I add a bookmark. I know it would be hard to create, but I bet there’s a developer out there looking for a challenge. 😉

Blogging Settings
The blogging settings also offer some nice goodies. If you have a blog, you can include daily blog posts of the pages you have bookmarked in del.icio.us. Also, you can add a link roll to your blog (as I just did):

Learning about Libraries and Technology via kwout

Del.icio.us for Georgia Libraries
I have a second account here that I set up as an example of how librarians may use a del.icio.us account at their library, particularly for a reference desk in Georgia. I have been experimenting with a ranking system for the subject category tags with the idea that a librarian could give a 1- to 5-start rating to a site based on how good it is for a particular subject. Like I said, it’s an experiment, and I may change it. Let me know what you think.