Caveat Tweeter

Protect your personal information!  Check out these articles:
Don’t Twitter Your Vacation Plans
What Facebook Quizzes Know About You

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Mark Your Calendars!

The director of the Library of Alexandria will be speaking at TU on September 18th!   Here are the details.

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The Rise of Open Access, a Graphic Explanation

A comical take on the Open Access issue.

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Wikis, Women and Ms. Wilson

An interesting article on the value of wikis from UC Santa Cruz.
And from the same source, an article about Girls and the Geek Image, illustrated by my dear friend and burgeoning scientific illustrator Cat Wilson!

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Portrait of the Librarian as a Young Girl

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Assessment of the International Children’s Digital Library

My final project in LIS 5053: Information Users in the Knowledge Society involved the preparation of a detailed critique of the International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL) web site as an information resource and recommendations for improvement.  By analyzing characteristics of the target audience and the web site’s application of information behavior models, cognitive and learning styles, design [...]

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Amazon’s Algorithm “Glitch”

For those of us who support freedom of expression and the right to read, this is rather disturbing…

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Literacy 2025

Does it make me a literary elitist if I find this disturbing?

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The Supermarket Strikes Back

How can real world stores cope with Amazon’s information services like purchase statistics?  How about this?

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Amazing Wireless Technology!

Oh brave new world that hath such media in it!

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Aspirations: Check! Perspiration: Check!

Whew!  This semester has been like being tied by the ankle to a runaway llama so far…  Which is why I’m so woefully behind on updating this blog.  So here’s an essay I wrote about my aspirations for the profession:
My long-term career goal is to serve as a public librarian, specifically in the areas of [...]

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Collection Reflections

After further discussion with Doc Martens, I have more confidence in my digital collections project.  My plan is to create a collection of photographs and sound recordings of my maternal relatives, along with a family tree going back to my great-great grandparents (if possible), to capture genealogical information and some of the oral history of [...]

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Surprise Inside

For those of us with fond memories of Richard Scarry’s Lowly Worm.

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Readers Advisory: Rethinking Romance

My Readers Advisory class is so much fun!  You’ve got to love a class where novels are part of the required reading.  I never realized how spoiled I was as an English major, just reading novels all the time, until I had to face my first semester of grad school, which was completely devoid of [...]

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History of Information Management

Here’s something from an online discussion I’d like to preserve here.  I’m not posting it for class credit–just for my own interest (or vanity).  These thoughts stem from reading Anthony Grafton’s article, “Digitization and its Discontents,” The New Yorker, November 5, 2007.

I agree with Grafton that humankind has struggled with information glut and access difficulties since [...]

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Story Time Observations

This morning I went to the Martin Regional Library to observe the children’s librarian doing story time.  My mom takes my two-year-old nephew to My First Storytime every Tuesday, so I tagged along with my new digital camera to see what I could learn.
I asked permission from Ms. Suzanne, the Children’s Librarian, and the other [...]

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Reader’s Services for the Discerning Necromancer

Are you seeking an open source means of controlling your zombie minions, but having Linux installation issues?  Have I got a book for you!
Reader’s Services class, here I come!

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Libraries as Ecosystems

Most people don’t realize how dangerous libraries can be…

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A New Contender in the Search Engine Arena

Heard about a cool new search engine last night, created by some former Googlites.  Cuil claims to search more pages on the web than anyone else.  Also, Cuil doesn’t capture information about users’ search history like Google does. 
Should be interesting to see how this tool can compete with Google.  Can Cuil be more powerful and avoid [...]

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Fundraising and Ethics

We had a discussion last spring in LIS 5033 regarding the ethical implications of accepting donations from certain funding sources.  I mentioned seeing an article in the Tulsa World some years ago about the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and a donation they received from the owner of several strip clubs. 
I can’t seem to [...]

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