SPLAT - Special Projects Library Action Team

I saw this article a while ago,and was at first tempted to dismiss it as another one of those studies that just show things are changing (I mean, things do change - that's not exactly new). But then I kept thinking about it as I used my e-reader, and I realized that
maybe there is something to this.

I recently used my Nook Color to read one of my Library's Book Club* books, and since I was the one leading the discussion, I needed to take notes and highlight. I found that using my Nook to do this really frustrated me. It's not that it was too difficult, but if I didn't highlight correctly, it took a minute or so to undo and then fix it. Adding notes wasn't that hard either, but locating those notes afterwards is not exactly instant.

As the article mentions, some people (like me, apparently) remember things in a physical book in a spatial way. I will remember a note or a highlight based on where I was - say, a half an inch from the end. Or, I'll draw a frowny face near a quote that emphasizes an evil character. It's not easy** to do that with an e-reader. So, as much as I love using my Nook for reading and other things, I doubt I'll use it again for notes for Book Club.

Which brings me back to why I thought this article would be interesting for SPLAT. Do you think that students today who use electronic texts are adapting better than some of the digital immigrants? How does this play into our e-book collection development? Or, am I just too Old School with my yellow highlighter pen and post-its?

* First rule of Book Club is to talk about Book Club. Sorry - I couldn't resist...

** Well, at least not easily removed, anyway, especially if you're fond of Sharpies.

How many of us use Outlook on a daily basis? Do you use the calendar in an attempt to stay sane with your crazy schedule? I always seem to be on the move and have a tendency to forget things unless I write them down. In an effort to feel more streamlined in my daily life for both work and personal life I have started putting all events onto a calendar. Now while this might seem like a great idea the actual outcome was far from desirable due to the fact that I was using a Google calendar for scheduling rooms at work, an Outlook calendar to plan my work schedule, and Google/Yahoo/iCloud calendars for my personal life. For some people this might not be an issue but for me it is. I want to be able to input the information onto the calendar for which it is intended but also see all of the calendars at the same time so that I can ensure I’m not overlapping at any point in time (I still haven’t figured out how to be in two places at the same time yet it is not from a lack of trying.)

The solution that I have come up with is to input the information into the proper calendar but to make my primary mode of viewing the calendars be my iPhone. While I was able to setup some calendars directly on my iPhone, I was having difficulty sending my work calendar from Outlook. The simple solution for me was to use Google Calendar Sync. Using this program I have been able to sync my Outlook email with a Google account (I use the library Google account to then forward the information to my phone). The one drawback that I have encountered in using Google Calendar Sync is that the two-way syncing never seems to send the information to my Outlook calendar but due to how I'm using the calendars this has not been an issue. Hopefully some of you out there will find this helpful but the biggest thing I learned from using this service is that if you have a need or a want there’s most likely an application or program out there for it and you can almost always find it for free.

Circulating Ideas is one of my favorite Library-related podcasts. Its host, Steve Thomas, interviews noteworthy people in Library Land asks them to share insights on their various blogs, projects, books, etc. I particularly enjoyed Episode Seven'sinterview with R. David Lankes, professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies and author of The Atlas of New Librarianship—a must read for those interested in the future of our profession.  The audio quality of the podcast is not always awesome, but the ideas are definitely worth thinking about.

So once a quarter myself and other members of SPLAT get together and talk about cool websites, trends, and the future of libraries in Idaho and beyond. Blekko is something that has come up at a couple of meetings, so I wanted to share it with you :)

Blekko's primary elevator speech is that it is the spam free search engine. They use human editors to help eleminate low quality websites that fill other search engines. Who doesn't want a bunch of ads and lame sites when they are searching (insert hand raise here)?

Another big part of what Blekko does is slashtag searching. What is that? "It is a tool used to filter search results and helps you to search only high quality sites, without spam or content farms." A couple examples are /date /like /news and /gossip. Each one of these slashtags will limit your search term to that particular subject area. Pretty cool, no?

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a big part of many company's search to be the top results on a search engine. The thinking behind SEO, is that search engines are based on computer programs, so if you know what they are looking for, your website could be higher on the list of results.

Blekko makes this easy by having information on inbound links to a website, when Blekko last crawled (a program that checks out new information on websites that are then used on the search engine results) the site, and how many pages are on that particular site. Just use the /seo slashtag, and you're on your way. You have to have a Blekko account to use this feature, but it is once again pretty cool.

Blekko also does a Grep once a day. What is that you may ask? They ask their users to submit things they want compared, and then Blekko does a report on it. One example was +1 button vs. FB like button vs. FB share button.

Sound interesting? Well you can easily compare Blekko with Bing and Google to see what you like the most. Just type in a search term and the slashtag /monte, and it will show you results from all three. May the search be with you!

As a new SPLATer, I have been meaning to post to the SPLAT blog for over a month now; I felt this would be an appropriate first post for me. I recently finished reading The Procrastination Equation, by Piers Steel, PhD. If you procrastinate, this book is filled with all kinds of great information (according to the author, about 90% of humans procrastinate, so we are in good company).

Anyway, Steel gives a couple of tips about how technology can help you with procrastination. For example, software and Internet browser add-ons can lock you out of your email for a specified amount of time (15 mintues, 15 hours, whatever you need) or track what you are actually doing when you are on your computer. Ever experience the surety that you have been focused on a project, and yet you can't seem to account for the last couple of hours? I used to lose hours to Pinterest (which I will be blogging about here soon).

Another one of Steel's tips was creating a dedicated physical space for work, homework, writing, whatever you need to get done. If, like me, you live in a small apartment with a spouse and a dog, you can create a separate login for your computer as a dedicated virtual workspace. So, I now have two logins on my laptop at home: 1) me, and 2) school/work me. The school/work me login is not allowed to add tabs or bookmarks for things like email, Pinterest, and whatnot. When I am logged in as school/work me, I have a desktop photo of the interior of the Seattle Public Library to help keep me centered and inspired. I do allow the school/work me login to have access to Google Play for Music, because I cannot function without music, but other than that, it is all business--which is still fun, when it is library business.

SPLAT presented at ILA Region IV (that's the Magic Valley region, y'all) last Thursday, and we had a good time sharing some really cool web tools. Jezmynne shared her experiences with Last Pass and a few other password managers; you can find her previous SPLAT post here. And Heidi gave us a quick and dirty introduction to Pinterest, which definitely piqed my interest. I talked about Diigo.

What is Diigo, you ask? Well, it's a fun little tool designed to be a step beyond a simple bookmarking site. I have loved Delicious, but often want to label things (or simply remind myself why I saved a site in the first place). With Diigo, you can highlight items on a site, even capture photos or other graphics, write sticky notes, and then share them with a group. This works really well when you want to work collaboratively but hate to have to email someone every time you want to share a site.*

Another neat thing about Diigo is that it's saved in "the cloud" (I totally want an echoing microphone every time I say that phrase). You can access your notes and saved sites from most mobile devices - and you can save things to read later. You can even upload stuff from your phone - like notes or photos - to research when you get home or wherever your laptop is living.

Since you can create folders and groups, Diigo can help you streamline a project, or in my case, help you remember what was so cool about the site you saved at 3 AM. I use this at home when I come across an idea that I think would be great for the library, but don't have the time to delve into it (usually at the aforementioned time of 3 AM). But I can also see how teacher librarians could use this to help gather resources for a subject or class. Can you guys think of any other great ways?

*First, I love footnotes - just warning you. Second, if you click onto Diigo's website, they have a short, albeit dorky-looking, video that explains some of this. The information you glean is interesting, but the execution leaves something to be desired...

I'm sitting here at a table with Ann Joslin, Tom Ivie, John Pool, and Lynn Baird at the ILA Region 2 Conference and during Cori Mandle-Bromley's keynote address there was a discussion of the Common Core Curriculum and what it means for Idaho libraries. One of the questions that came up during this discussion was “Where can librarians find out more about the Common Core standards online.”

Here is a list of links that were
suggested during that question and answer session.

Idaho Department of Education Common
Core Standards site - http://www.sde.idaho.gov/site/common/

IdahoDepartment of Education Common
Core Videios -
http://www.sde.idaho.gov/site/common/ELAcore/gettingStarted.htm

National Common Core website -
http://www.corestandards.org/

ISU College of education TIA -
http://ed.isu.edu/depts/tia/

Common Core Phone app -
http://www.masteryconnect.com/

I'll be at the Idaho Library Association Region 2 Conference this afternoon in Moscow with Jennifer Cromer, so be sure to say "Hi," or "Hello," or "Great to see you," or "Who are you anyway?" if you're also attending.

I'll be the guy in the "White and Nerdy" sweatshirt.

http://www.fayettevillefreelibrary.org/about-us/services/fablab

Which Idaho Library will be first?

Fayetteville Free Library is having the grand opening of a new public service -- "Fab Lab" on April 14!  What is a Fab Lab?  Check out the website and see:  http://www.fayettevillefreelibrary.org/about-us/services/fablab 

So where will Idaho's first Fab Lab be?  Or is there already one I don't know about?