January 2014

http://lifehacker.com/google-tips-and-tricks-every-student-should-know-1508121671

Whether you’re a student in college (or earlier) or a lifelong learner, Google is an essential tool for learning. Here are a few tips for using Google search and other apps more effectively to further your education.

Many of these tips you’ve no doubt learned before from our previous Google coverage, but every worthwhile subject is worth reviewing now and again, and today we’re looking specifically at the best Google tricks for students. So here we go!

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2014/01/library-future-here/8193/

The library of the 21st century still has books, but it also has 3-D printers, laser cutters, sewing machines, and spaces for conducting business meetings. It offers computer coding classes. It has advanced video- and audio-production software. All things that might and individual may find too expensive but can still benefit from using.

http://www.wnyc.org/story/cat-abandons-fish-truck-library-residency/?.com

Rosie, a Long Island cat that went missing after stowing away on a fish truck nearly eight months ago, resurfaced this week, after a brief residency in the basement of the Brooklyn Public Library.

Rosie’s owner, Stephanie Villani, said the curious cat sneaked aboard her husband’s fish truck last Memorial Day weekend, hitching a ride to the farmer’s market at Grand Army Plaza where the couple has been selling fish for more than 20 years. When Villani’s husband opened the doors of the truck, Rosie surprised him by leaping out and sprinting into nearby Prospect Park.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/next-america/perspectives/libraries-as-america-s-techno-glue-20140122
At a time when more information is moving online and into digital formats, our patrons highly value free access to books and the range of resources and programs available at the library. To accommodate the high demand for digital services, we added several Internet-equipped computers to the computer lab and expanded library space for laptop users. As a library director, I see students, parents, and readers turn to the library when they need homework help, children’s books, historical information, or research assistance.

http://www.libraryedge.org/

The Edge Initiative was developed by a national coalition of leading library and local government organizations, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and led by the Urban Libraries Council. It was created with the vision that all people should have opportunities to enrich and improve their lives through open access to information, communication, and technology services provided by public libraries. Edge is a groundbreaking, first of its kind management and leadership tool, helping libraries create a path for the continuous growth and development of their public technology services.

Through an easy to use suite of tools, Edge supports libraries in making strategic decisions and identifying areas for improvement. The Edge Toolkit gives libraries a look into their local data, from operations to partnerships and programming, to assess how their community is using the technology and how best practices can be put into place to align future growth and services with community priorities. It also provides useful resources to package and showcase the data to other community leaders.

From New Hampshire Public Radio. A sweet story of a sister, a brother and a mystery donation.

From The Atlantic. Subtitle is “and why the downturn might be over”.

The Pew Research Center reported last week that nearly a quarter of American adults had not read a single book in the past year. As in, they hadn’t cracked a paperback, fired up a Kindle, or even hit play on an audiobook while in the car. The number of non-book-readers has nearly tripled since 1978.

An ethics complaint by a self-described “library watchdog” alleging a prominent Morris County official misled local libraries, telling them they have to allow pornography on publicly accessible computers, has been dismissed.

In the complaint, Dan Kleinman, who runs SafeLibraries.Blogspot.com, said Ann Grossi “has materially mislead the communities of Roxbury and Montville into allowing pornography in the public libraries, despite community desires to remove it and despite the law.”

http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2014/01/porn_at_libraries_attorneys_advice_isnt_an_ethics_violation_state_says.html

“Thirty years ago people primarily came in and checked books out and left,” she said. “Now we have a whole lot of people coming in who want a comfy chair and a place to do their reading.” Patrons today, she said, look at the physical library more like a “third place” outside of home or office, where they can do work, ask for assistance, use wi-fi or computers: “It’s the Starbucks effect.”

http://blogs.kcrw.com/whichwayla/2014/01/the-starbucks-effect-and-the-changing-role-of-our-libraries

Health Canada scientists are so concerned about losing access to their research library that they’re finding work-arounds, with one squirrelling away journals and books in his basement for colleagues to consult, says a report obtained by CBC News.

The draft report from a consultant hired by the department warned it not to close its library, but the report was rejected as flawed and the advice went unheeded.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/health-canada-library-changes-leave-scientists-scrambling-1.2499217