Twitter is a social networking site I am not ashamed to check routinely throughout the work [...]]]> “Social is just one part of what we do. We think of it as an information utility,” he said, describing Twitter as a personal news service as much as a social network. (Twitter is much more than social: co-founder Dorsey)

Twitter is a social networking site I am not ashamed to check routinely throughout the work day. I primarily use it to follow other librarians and people/organizations in similar fields. It’s a great way to find out about tech news, conferences, job postings, interesting websites and articles, etc.

Twitter feeds to follow (my recommendations):

• Mashable: Independent news covering tech, social media and web culture
• Open Access Hulk: Open Access news as delivered by the Hulk
• mgeist: Keep up with Canadian copyright by following Micheal Geist’s Tweets
• sparkcbc:Feed for the CBC’s tech news radio show Spark
• LISNews.org: News for librarians updated regularly
• Awfullibbooks: Find out about new posts to the weeding-wonders blog Awful Library Books
• librarianmer:Librarian, writer & avid blogger Meredith Farkas’ tweets
• AMSciForum: Open Access advocate & scholar Steven Harnad’s Twitter
• SPARC NA: Feed for the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition
• Very Short Story: Not really library-related but still great Twitter sized fiction

Directories of Library Twitter feeds to follow:

• ALA Twitter feeds: Follow the activities of a variety of American Library Association units
• American & International (including Canadian) library feeds: Many examples of libraries using Twitter for promotion, outreach and overall communication with users

Check out:

And …

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The [...]]]> In light of the recent Wikipedia blackout, I just wanted to point out some resources that do a good job of addressing recent American anti-piracy legislation (that has thankfully been shelved after widespread protests this week).

Check out:

• How SOPA Affects Students, Educators, and Libraries
• Librarians Turn Wikipedia Blackout into Teachable Moment

And …

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Digital & Media Literacy @ RDC PRESENTERS: Kristine Plastow, Robyn Hall & Teneil Vuori, Red Deer College Library

The ability to interact with information across [...]]]> On Thursday, April 14, I helped lead a workshop (turned webinar thanks to bad weather) at the Annual General Meeting- Spring 2011 of the Alberta Association of Academic Libraries (AAAL) in Calgary, Alberta.

Digital & Media Literacy @ RDC
PRESENTERS: Kristine Plastow, Robyn Hall & Teneil Vuori, Red Deer College Library

The ability to interact with information across a variety of technological platforms, tools and media is a vital skill for students and faculty to possess in contemporary learning and workplace environments. This session will address challenges and opportunities academic librarians and staff at RDC Library have experienced in seeking to foster patrons’ digital and media literacy skills.

Learn more about Digital & Media Literacy:

• Digital & Media Literacy: A Plan of Action: http://www.scribd.com/doc/41889496/Digital-and-Media-Literacy-A-Plan-of-Action
  White paper by Renee Hobbs; a project of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Aspen Institute outlining steps to improve digital and media literacy education.
• The Horizon Report 2011: http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/HR2011.pdf
  Describes six areas of emerging technology that will have significant impact on higher education and creative expression over the next one to five years.

RDC Library Guides:

• Research Guides: http://rdc.libguides.com/browse.php?o=s
  Library staff have created subject guides to help students & faculty find resources, including books, articles & websites.
• Copyright: http://rdc.libguides.com/copyright
  Information for students & faculty about using copyrighted materials at RDC.
• Open Resources: http://rdc.libguides.com/open
  This guide will help you find copyright-friendly resources online, including scholarly literature, multimedia, teaching objects, and software.
• Information Fluency: http://rdc.libguides.com/info_fluency
  Learn how to book an instruction session with a librarian. This guide provides an overview of resources, services, and programs designed and delivered by librarians to support students and instructors at RDC.
• RDC citation guides:
  APA: http://rdc.libguides.com/apa
  MLA: http://rdc.libguides.com/mla
  Chicago: http://rdc.libguides.com/chicago

I attended the Handheld Librarian Online Conference a few weeks ago. QR Codes were mentioned in pretty much every session. So … what are QR Codes and how are libraries using them?

QR (Quick Response) Codes are matrix barcodes that you can scan [...]]]> AKA those funny looking square things cropping up all over the place …

I attended the Handheld Librarian Online Conference a few weeks ago. QR Codes were mentioned in pretty much every session. So … what are QR Codes and how are libraries using them?

QR (Quick Response) Codes are matrix barcodes that you can scan with a QR Code reader installed on your cell phone. (Note: Some cell phones come with this already built in, while older phones–like mine– will not allow for this technology.)

Once scanned, you are taken to a URL … or whatever other information has been encoded in the QR Code.

Libraries are placing QR Codes in catalogues and research guides to provide users with mobile-accessible information about resources, as well as in physical library spaces to provide information about things like library hours and online research guides. The QR Code to the right will take you to a mobile library guide that we have recently created at RDC Library (which is also available here). Soon we will be placing this QR Code at our Information Desk in the library, along with handouts on how QR Codes work.

To learn more…

Read QR Codes: Uses in Libraries

Download a QR Code Reader

Create your own QR Code!

Watch QR Codes Everywhere

The guide features resources and information on Open Access (OA) journal literature, copyright-friendly media (Open Culture), Open Education teaching resources, and Open Source Software.

Creating an “open” guide can increase patron’s awareness of:

- Resources freely available on the Internet regardless of their membership status with a Library [...]]]> I recently created an Open Resources LibGuide for RDC Library.

The guide features resources and information on Open Access (OA) journal literature, copyright-friendly media (Open Culture), Open Education teaching resources, and Open Source Software.

Creating an “open” guide can increase patron’s awareness of:

- Resources freely available on the Internet regardless of their membership status with a Library or financial restrictions.

- Copyright and alternatives to proprietary media and software.

- Opportunities to share work openly with others through, for example, OA journals and creative commons licenses.

* On that note, the content of this guide has a creative commons license attached should you wish to share, copy, distribute or remix what’s there.

It talks about how search engine results are becoming more and more irrelevant and spammy. I could not agree more.

When I teach students how to evaluate websites I no longer have them look at hoax sites [...]]]> CNN recently published an article that caught my eye entitled Humans vs. automated search: Why people power is cool again.

It talks about how search engine results are becoming more and more irrelevant and spammy. I could not agree more.

When I teach students how to evaluate websites I no longer have them look at hoax sites (despite how fun they can be). Instead I have them go to Google and throw in some keywords as they might actually do when researching for their class assignments. Then I have them evaluate the first few results that come up. More times than not these results are pretty terrible and smoothly lead us into discussions around search syntax, advanced search features, scholarly versus popular resources, library databases, peer-review, reliable websites, and the overall conclusion that online searching is messy at best.

On that note, the aforementioned CNN article brought blekko.com to my attention. Launched this past fall, blekko is a search engine that allows users to mark search results as spam, for instance, and they can also indicate that they “like” certain results much like Facebook lets people “like” their friends’ wall posts. It also enables users to search using “slashtags” whereby they can search through only sites they want. All in all I think this search engine has a lot of new and exciting features to paw through at a time where Google is becoming rather frustrating (though I love it still, of course).

Generated from my Library Day in the Life posts using: http://www.wordle.net

Luckily, there is a range of productivity software out there to make our lives easier. Some useful applications I have come across include:

Drop Box: Lets you store, sync [...]]]> Managing information is not easy! Things like keeping track of tasks and deadlines, sharing documents with others, and figuring out where you have saved files can be challenging.

Luckily, there is a range of productivity software out there to make our lives easier. Some useful applications I have come across include:

Drop Box: Lets you store, sync and share your online files. Access, modify,  save and share your files from any location. For those of us who need to save files on a shared drive or computer at work, this is an especially helpful tool. Never again have to remember to email yourself documents or save them to a flash drive.

Google Docs: This popular tool lets you create a word document that can be saved online and modified by multiple users of your choosing from any computer that can access the Internet. This is great it if you’re compiling or editing a document with a team of people. I have also had success submitting assignments through Google Docs for an instructor to mark.

Producteev: Online task management that easily allows you to add tasks and deadlines (complete the ability to forward tasks in your email into the program). You can also share tasks with one other person (more if you pay for an account). I just learned about this tool and I am excited to start using it.