Binary America

Recently, I read yet another article pertaining to the digital divide. The Washington Post article—Binary America: Split in Two by a Digital Divide peaked by interest due to its take on who’s online? And who’s not? The article went beyond comparing the percentage of Americans who own a personal computer, but highlighted the percentage of Americans with access to broadband Internet versus modem dial-up. In addition, it spoke of the apparent lack of concern by the present presidential candidates toward the “Internet” and reducing the digital divide. As usual, libraries were mention as the only place where disadvantage people can go to access high-speed Internet.

Web designer

Working on this homepage assignment confirms what I already know--I'm not a web designer! I'll probably take a beginner's web design or html class once I complete the MLIS program because many librarian positions are asking for web design experience or at least the ability to maintain the library's site.

Home Page

I’m still working on my home page assignment. For some reason I thought this assignment would present me with little or no problems. However, republishing my site with the modifications (especially images) is taking me a little longer.

Librarians are hilarious

I finally received a day of rest on Friday after spending 6 days in Pittsburgh for the on-campus visit,and five hours in Philly's airport for a thirty-five minute flight home! Overall, I had a good time during my on-campus visit to the University of Pittsburgh. The campus was beautiful, I met a lot of interesting people in the Cohort, and the professors were great. I'm really glad I applied to Pitt! One thing that I learned on my visit that really surprised me was: Librarians are hilarious. The professors had a great sense of humor and so did a lot of the students.

Career Options

Today during the FastTrack on-campus learning experience, librarians from various types of libraries spoke to the cohort about their professional experiences. Academic, special, school, and public librarinship were all represented in the discussion. While they all advocated for their particular librarianship, I found the presentation by the academic librarian very informative. I don't know, maybe it's due to the position description hand-out that she shared with the group!

Now I'm considering looking at an academic instead of public librarianship. I also want to work with cataloguing old photographs and by working in university library I might get that opportunity. I think I'll talk to my advisor about that idea tomorrow!

Pittsburgh II

It's been three days now since I arrived in Pittsburgh to attend my on-site campus visit. The cohort seems like a good group of future librarians! Some students, like myself have no library experience, while the majority of students already work in a library.

I have taken a couple of pictures, and if they look ok I will post to the blog at a later day.

Pittsburgh

I’ve been very busy today preparing to leave for Pittsburgh for my first FastTrack weekend. I’m looking forward to meeting the members of Cohort 7 that I didn’t meet on the tour at the Library of Congress in June. Well—I’m going to get back to the Kompzer assignment which is giving me a slight problem.

Google and Privacy

In the August 2007 issue of PC World, the News & Trends section features an interesting article pertaining to Google and what the company’s pending purchase of DoubleClick can have on one’s private information. I found the article timely because lately I’ve been wondering what the impact of downloading all the various programs for LIS2600 will on my personal online profile. I figure thus far, interested parties know I’m a student of library science with interest in historical photographs.

Jennifer

I'm still unable to create a title for my post. However, I'm really too busy working on my Kompozer assignment to bother with that issue now. It seems there's always some glitch or one wrong step and the program doesn't work. Anyway, back to Kompozer!

Here is my Koha link. I selected southern folklore as my topic. My favorite selection from the books listed below is Folk beliefs of the Southern Negro.

On another note, I'm having technical issues with my blog so I'm unable to give my post a title.

Storytellers: folktales & legends from the South/0820312673
Folk beliefs of the Southern Negro/0486224600
Roots of a region: Southern folk culture/9781934110201
Shared traditions: Souther history and folk culture/0252015215
A Treasury of Southern folklore/0517336472
Why the possum's tail is bare, and other classic southern stories/0380768577
The hidden feast: a folktale frm the American South/0874837588
The Upland South: the making of an American folk region and landscape/1930066082
Southern folk medicine/1570032890
From my people: 400 years of African American folklore/0393047989
Identity, family, and folklore in African American literature/0815318642
Every tongue got to confess: Negro folk-tales from the Gulf states/0060188936
American folklore & the historian/0226158683
Negro folktales in Michigan/083715989X
Handbook of American folkore/0253327067

I recently viewed an interesting article in the Baltimore Sun pertaining to seniors and their increased use on the Internet. It seems seniors are using the Internet to receive updated information on Medicare, purchase lower-priced items, and connect with younger generations in their families. Of course, libraries are one of the few locations outside senior citizens homes where they can receive computer training.

Independence Day

In honor of Independence Day, I though I would share links to a couple of interesting sites pertaining to the history of our country. Our Documents, contains l00 digitized images of important American documents, such as the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Also, review the American Rhetoric, which includes a partial database of the 100 most significant American political speeches of the 20th Century, according to over 100 scholar of "American Public Address" as compiled by two university professors. Enjoy!

The Cult of the Amateur

I just read the book review of The Cult of the Amateur : How Today’s Internet is Killing our Culture, by Andrew Keen. Keen seems to make some good points pertaining to the reliability of Web 2.0 sites, but I believe the positive aspects of these participatory sites out weight the negative. Also, I don't see a problem with traditional resource sites which rely on experts, co-existing with the so-called “noble amateur” sites.

ZoomClouds Assignment

The following are the URL's for the ZoomClouds assignment: http://zoomclouds.egrupos.net/ctags/previewCloud/

http://zoomclouds.egrupos.net/btags/previewCloud/

http://zoomclouds.egrupos.net/dtags/previewCloud/.

As you can see, I had problems with getting all the Connotea tags to show up in ZoomClouds. I deleted Connotea Zoomcloud, added more entries,and created two other Connotea clouds, but I still only have a few tags in my cloud.

URL for Bloglines LIS2600 Folder

Here is the URL http://www.bloglines.com/public/JSM39 for my LIS2600 folder. I know it's really late, but I was having problems with this assignment. It wasn't a hard project, I was just making little mistakes and leaving out little steps. For instance, it took me awhile to figure out how to edit subscription and place them in the LIS2600 folder that I create.

"The Modern Librarian"

In recognition of the 128th annual American Library Association convention, the Washington Post featured a cute article pertaining to Ann Seidl’s premier of “Hollywood Librarian,” which took place at the convention. According to the article, Seidl’s motivation for creating the movie is rooted in changing the “sourpuss bookmarms” [bookmans] image of librarians long depicted in films.

A point of disagree with this article is its assertion that “the profession lacks an infusion of young blood.” It’s my opinion that technological advancement is and will attract younger people to the profession. When I decided to pursue my MLIS, most librarians that I spoke with were really surprised how “popular library school has become within the last decade.” Besides, librarianship is often thought of as a second career and few high school graduates are serious enough to pursue the profession.

However, maybe a viewing of “Hollywood Librarian” during career day will influence young adults to purse the profession.

LOC Tour

Last Saturday, June 23rd, I joined a few members of Cohort 6 and 7 for a personalized tour of the Library of Congress (LOC). At first, I wasn’t going to attend, because I’ve already taken a behind-the-scenes tour of LOC. However, I’m really glad I decided to participate. I gained so much information pertaining to the history of the library and the symbolism contained within. For example, if I remember correctly, the torches throughout the Jefferson Building symbolizes enlightenment. I was equally impressed with the scope of the collection: I had no ideal that both Whoduni and Hilter’s libraries form part of LOC’s collections. Lastly, the presentation given by staff members of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) was excellent! It’s just amazing what types of opportunities are available to librarians.

Oh before I forget, I had time to speak with several individuals from Cohort 6 (Virgin Islanders), and they were very supportive and encouraging! They gave me several tips for surviving LIS 2600.

Wikis

While reviewing ALA’s website, I came across an interesting article in the Association of College and Research Libraries division on wikis. I must admit, my previous experience with a wiki only includes reading information on wikipedia. I was especially eager to view the article because a forthcoming class project depends on my ability to create and edit information in pbwiki.

The article, Using a wiki to manage library instruction program: Sharing knowledge to better serve, offered good points for the support of employing a wiki to manage library programs. However, the lack of monitoring information included in a wiki is my only issue with using this technology.

URL for Historic Photographs Search Engine

Daguerreotype Source: Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-3937


Here is the URL for my Historic Photographs search engine created by using Google Co-Op.

http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=003237279863033178046%3A7r5iagfq6di

Libraries and Facebook

Today while viewing a visual studies listerv, I came across an interesting post relating to Facebook and North Suburban Library System (NSLS). As most people know, Facebook is a social networking website originally used by college and university students. However, according to the post, NSLS “has created a Facebook application that lets users add a search box for the Digital Past online history collection.”

The researcher is then able to download historical images from various libraries and cultural institutions to their profile. I think this is a really ingenious use of modern technology to connect with the public, especially, younger demographics. I wonder has visitation risen at the participating institutions since creating the Facebook application. Also, what copyright issues did they consider during the selection of materials? I’m sure not all the images are in the public domain.

To view the original post click here.