Finally Friday-- Blather

Here's some interesting stuff from around the web:

Thanks to Ms. O Reads for this post about a link on Pinterest. 10 Interesting Ways to Use Instagram in Your Library. Ms. O. is a Pinterest Goddess, and I can't even remember my log in. I do try to post on Instagram, but I have to have the iPad with me, it has to be charged, and I have to think of something to take a picture of. It's a lot of pressure. Like Tweeting. I did agree with Joel Stein of Time that the internet is good for things like blogging, and that I write a lot more because of my blog. I am just a digital immigrant, and I would rather not have to do anything at all on the computer. Like me some circulation cards, but also appreciate that I can run overdue reports much more easily through Destiny. Still a digital immigrant just trying to survive.



Book Speed Dating: The Mighty Little Librarian has a post on this that's great. I've done this with classes before (although I use a tiny hourglass instead of the fancy LCD projected timer) and it does work wonderfully!

While I don't agreee with The Atlantic that students SHOULD be hacking their school issued iPads to get to music and social media, this article had a lot of interesting information about how computer rollouts need to be considered more carefully. While the iPad has some lovely uses, I don't think that they are particularly good for working on. If the laptops we have at my school are any indication, there is going to be a LOT of tech support needed if every student in the school has a computer to use. Since the average life span of a lap top is 2-3 years, I am still a bit leery of the rush to adopt these for students. Have any of the administrators tried to read textbooks on a computer? It's not easy!



I was having a bad enough week without THIS popping up in my window-- from Salary.com: "12 Jobs on the Brink: Will They Evolve or Go Extinct?" Librarian, of course, was the very first slide, but we at least get this verdict:

Glamour girl Google and her friends Bing, Yahoo and Cha Cha dethroned the trusty silencer of the stacks, our public librarian.

Now, the local library is online, shoes and shirts are no longer required and we can use our "outdoor voice" indoors if we are so inspired. Will the decibel diva's future be shelved?

Verdict: Evolved. Although virtual media and the Internet search deleted the Dewey decimal system, people still enjoy reading books the old-fashioned way and appreciate research help. The new librarian is a digital archivist, savvy with searches, keywords and helpful websites.

http://cutestuff.co

And I don't know about you, but I just had a bleah-ish week. It was cold, students were uncooperative and rambunctious, and I'm starting to stress out about the holidays. I'm the kind of person who likes to have my Christmas shopping done in August! After deciding last week that I should have majored in Women's Studies 30 years ago, I've been paranoid for no concrete reason that my district will cut all librarians and have been vacillating between retraining as a medical radiographer or a dietician.

So.... a cute puppy, reading 101 Dalmations. If I had just trained Sylvie from puppyhood to be a Library Dog, she could have come to work with me today and made everything better!