The Distant Librarian

Wonderful visualizations from Traverse Area District Library

Serveral weeks ago as a result of a post by Michael Stephens I was introduced to this awesome page of usage visualizations at the Traverse Area District Library (Traverse City, MI). I had a great email exchange with the developer, Bill Rockwood, about how he put it together, and he's since posted a page outlining how it was built. Eventually, as time permits, Bill and his team will put the code up on GitHub for the rest of the world to use :-) Definitely worth a peek. Are you aware of any similar projects?

How Users Search the Library from a Single Search Box

Just wanted to draw your attention to a great article I finally got around to reading: How Users Search the Library from a Single Search Box, May 2013 College & Research Libraries, vol. 74 no. 3 227-241. It's the story of how the search box at NCSU Libraries was developed, and word for word it pretty much mirrors why and how we built ours here at the U of Calgary.

See also:

• Villanova (sorta)
• Uof California, San Fran
• U of Michigan
• UVa

ERIC Restores Online Access to Full Text from 2005-2013

Well here's some good news!

ERIC Restores Online Access to Full Text from 2005-2013

 

Posted with Blogsy

Who does screencasting help the most?

An interesting report on the Casting Out Nines Blog (part of the Chronicle of Higher Education Blog Network): Who does screencasting help the most? The author summarizes the results of a Winter 2011 paper in Advances in Engineering Education (PDF), and concludes that,

I think it suggests that screencasts, when done well and deployed properly, help all students – they certainly don’t hurt – and they help most thise (sic) students who need the most help. The analogies to mathematics courses are clear. In any math course there will be a large contingent of students whose backgrounds aren’t congruous with the course: students whose prior math background is weak to rusty, students from non-STEM disciplines, and so on. For those students, if they use the screencasts, then they may be likely to improve at a surprisingly fast rate. 

Not earth-shattering, but encouraging. Keep on screencasting!

Google drops SMS Search, nudges basic phone users toward smartphones

As reported by Engadget. Oh well, I discovered it in 2007 and never really needed it since...

Call for Submissions: Journal of Library and Information Service in Distance Learning

I received the following via email:

The Journal of Library and Information Service in Distance Learning, a peer-reviewed journal published by Taylor & Francis, welcomes the submission of manuscripts.

The journal is devoted to the issues and concerns of librarians and information specialists involved with distance education and delivering library resources and services to this growing community of students.

Topics can include but are not limited to:

• Faculty/librarian cooperation and collaboration
• Information literacy
• Instructional service techniques
• Information delivery
• Reference services
• Document delivery
• Developing collections

If you are interested in submitting an article, this journal uses ScholarOne Manuscripts (previously Manuscript Central) to peer review manuscript submissions. Please read the “Guide for ScholarOne Authors” before making a submission.

Complete guidelines for preparing and submitting your manuscript to this journal are provided at http://www.informaworld.com/openurl?genre=journal&issn=1533-290X.

The Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance Learning receives all manuscript submissions electronically via their ScholarOne Manuscripts website. 

Inquiries and questions are welcome and can be sent directly to the editor, Jodi Poe, at jpoe@jsu.edu.

Please note: We accept manuscript submissions through the year; however, the deadline to have your article appear in our next issue, if accepted, is August 1, 2013. Accepted and approved manuscripts received after this date have no guarantee of being included in the next published issue.

Get Camtasia 2 for Mac for 50% off!

Just a quick heads-up that StackSocial is currently running a $50 Mac software bundle that includes the latest version of Camtasia, which normally sells for $99. In addition to that fine screencasting tool, you also get 8 other pieces of software you may find useful. Regardless, 50% off if you've been thinking about picking up Camtasia... Deal ends May 20th.

Expert panel to look into the state of libraries & archives in Canada

I happened across an interesting article in a recent CAUT (Canadian Association of University Teachers) Bulletin: Expert panel to look into the state of libraries & archives in Canada. "The panel’s final report on libraries and archives is due in the fall of 2014." Don't miss the link at the bottom of the page to http://www.canadaspastmatters.ca/, which has lots of information about the importance of preserving information within Canada.

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