Most of the high school and junior high school librarians in my District just got Nook Color e-readers. We are trying to learn more about ebooks and stay ahead (maybe we are just trying to catch up!) of the curve. Having had an Android phone for awhile, many of the operating conventions of the device are familiar to me. Still, it’s non-ereader functions are quite limited. And, of course, it is designed to make money for Barnes and Noble. (“Angry Birds” was free on my phone, but the Nook version costs money). It is tempting to “root” the device and turn it into an full-fledged Android tablet computer, but since it belongs to the school, I will resist the temptation.

Information Literacy, Information Technology | No Comments »

If you still think of Google as primarily a search engine, it is time to update your knowledge base. Google is, in fact, a large, innovative, company that has much more to offer than just the familiar search box. Google is competing directly, and very effectively, with both Microsoft, and Apple.

If you are not yet using GMail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and iGoogle, you really ought to check them out. They are convenient, extremely useful, and will probably improve your productivity. In addition, the free Google download-able applications, Picasa, and Google Earth are the best in their categories.

Plus, the Google Android operating system for cell phones (and soon tablet computers!) has recently stolen the market focus away from the Apple iPhone. I am totally amazed at, and impressed by, the capabilities of my new Droid2 phone. And, of course, everyone should install and use the new, fast, Google Chrome web browser.

But do I still use the old familiar Google Search Engine? Not so much. That should be a topic for another post.

Information Literacy, Information Technology | No Comments »

The National Education Association has a caucus for school librarians called the Library, Information Literacy, and Technology (LIT) Caucus. This group meets in person at the NEA Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly in July, but we have an online discussion group which is available year-round.. Effective immediately, our online discussion group has moved from Ning to Google Groups.

I would like to encourage and invite all school librarians (and interested others!) to join with us at http://groups.google.com/group/nealit.

Information Technology, Librarian organizations | No Comments »

This past spring I setup a new web server at our school using Ubuntu Linux Server version 10.04. I set it up as a LAMP server (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) to give me more options. Once I had done that (it took a couple of months because I was learning as I worked!), I was able to install the Zikula Content Management System (CMS) for my new library web site.

Now every time I go to my library web site in a browser, I am pleased to see that an older computer that I set up with Linux, is just working away in a back room at my school serving out web pages whenever they are called. And with LAMP installed, I could easliy set up WordPress or Moodle if any of our teachers wanted to use these tools.

Information Technology, Library Services | No Comments »

I have been using my Dell Mini9 Netbook for about a year now and I really like it. It’s small, fast and convenient. One of the things I have come to really like is Ubuntu Linux. I like it so much I took an old 800 mHz Pentiium 4 that had been laying around in my house, wiped Windows 98 off the hard drive, and installed Ubuntu 9.10 on it. Now it is usable again. It is still a bit slow for local applications, but with my email, calendar, ToDo list, and more and more of my documents now online in the cloud (Thank you, Google!), I spend most of my time in the web browser anyway.

It was a bit of trouble upgrading the Mini9 from Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) to 9.10 (Karmic Koala) because I wanted to install the “lpia” (low power information architecture) version rather than the “netbook” version and I had to hunt it down. I also updated the BIOS, and that was a bit of a problem because Dell seems to support its Windows users better than its Linux users. Still, however, with the upgrades it seems to run even faster, cooler, and with longer battery life.

And, of course, any software I want: office, internet, games, audio/visual, productivity… are all free!

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One common complaint a school librarian hears from parents is, “We didn’t know the book was overdue.” This is most commonly heard, of course, at the end of the school year, when the school office informs the student that he or she will not be receiving a yearbook until all unpaid school fees and fines (including library fines) are paid.

Leaving aside the fact that Secondary students need to learn to be responsible for themselves, and that every time they check out a book they are given a receipt that clearly tells them when the book is due, and that they they have received at least two overdue book notices from the library through their English teacher, the parent doesn’t want to pay the fine because they claim they weren’t notified.

To help parents get the information they seem to want, our District-wide Follett Destiny library circulation system allows for overdue and book fine notices to be sent to both students and their parents via email. This makes notification fast and convenient, and no trees are killed for printed notices that get lost or thrown away anyway.

It looks like a Win-Win situation right? Except that last week at our District librarian training we were asked to refrain from using the email notification option more than twice a year. It seems the District has been getting complaints from parents that they are getting too many emails regarding their student’s overdue books and library fines.

Library Management | No Comments »

clipped from www.mobilecomputermag.co.uk

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Social networking software (ie. My Space, Facebook) has taken a giant leap forward with the advent of Ning.com. Ning is much more than just another social networking site. It is a tool anyone can use to create their own social networking site.

The National Education Association has a caucus for school librarians called the Library, Information Literacy, and Technology (LIT) Caucus. Typically this group only meets annually at the NEA Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly. Now, however, we can continue those conversations throughout the year online at our own social networking site!

I would like to encourage and invite all school librarians (and interested others!) to join with us at http://nealit.ning.com/.

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clipped from www.amazon.com

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clipped from clipmarks.com People all over the world clipping the best parts of web pages Learn more ? Start clipping

Information Literacy, Personal | No Comments »