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