Baby Boomer Librarian

Twitter Best Practices for the Librarian (#twitter)

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:05:00 +0000

Here are what I consider to be a few best practices for librarians that twitter. This is not best practices for library twitter accounts but for individual users. I am presenting this as a list. I may elaborate in greater detail in later posts.

“Do treat Twitter as a conversation rather than a broadcast medium.” Sarah Milstein, "Twitter FOR Libraries (and Librarians)." Computers in Libraries,May 2009.
Tweet about what you love and know.
Retweet only stuff you like.
Do not follow everyone that follows you.
Use Twitter at conferences you attend. Use hashtags.
Be sensible. Don't tweet about going to the bathroom or too many other mundane things. Some is good, a lot is bad.
Be careful who you follow. It reflects on you.
Use a desk top client on your computer. I use seesmic desktop.
Use a service such as topify to easily track who follows you.
Shorten URLs using a service such as bitly.
Add yourself to different directories so others can find you such as Twellow, We Follow, and others.
Purchase a personal copy of The TwitterBook by Tim O'Reilly & Sarah Milstein. READ IT!!

That's it for now. See you in the twitterverse.

Obligation to participate regionally (#ala2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:05:00 +0000

I have been reading lots of tweets and blog posts from ALA annual conference (#ala2009). A few posts/tweets have been from SUNY librarians that never belonged or participated actively in the SUNY Librarians Association (SUNYLA) or in SUNY wide efforts. Why would librarians choose to participate nationally but never contribute any effort to regional professional groups or efforts? There are a significant number of SUNY librarians that participate in SUNYLA and in ALA and its affiliates. Thank you for your participation. For the rest of you, don't forget us peons. We need your energy and ideas locally.

ALA, SUNYLA, #ala2009

Films on Demand from Films for the Humanities and Sciences

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:02:00 +0000

The SUNY system now has a consortial deal for Films on Demand . It includes the entire academic package of just over 5000 films. The service will be useful to us. I just learned the following from Films On Demand:

300 kbps is the only rate available for films still in windows format.
Moving files over to Flash format for higher resolution/higher bit rate. No date as to when that will be done.
There are NO MARC records available from them.
The information on the support site is out of date and inaccurate.

I am disappointed in Films on Demand but still think it is worth the money. Almost every other vendor that we get e-books or other online media from provides MARC records, usually at no additional cost.

Films on Demand

Powered by ScribeFire.

Bloom's Taxonomy applied to Web 2.0 tools

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:38:00 +0000

I thought this might be of interest. According to Wikipedia:

“The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, often called Bloom's Taxonomy, is a classification of the different objectives that educators set for students (learning objectives). The taxonomy was proposed in 1956 by Benjamin Bloom, an educational psychologist at the University of Chicago. Bloom's Taxonomy divides educational objectives into three "domains:" Affective, Psychomotor, and Cognitive. Like other taxonomies, Bloom's is hierarchical; meaning that learning at the higher levels is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels (Orlich, et al. 2004). A goal of Bloom's Taxonomy is to motivate educators to focus on all three domains, creating a more holistic form of education.”

The image is from : http://visualblooms.wikispaces.com/

Newsweek: A Twitter timeline of the Iran election

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:19:00 +0000

You have probably seen some of the coverage in the news about the use of Twitter by Iranians recently. This time line from Newsweek clearly shows the power of such social networking technologies. It reminds me of the use of fax machines and cell phones during other upheavals around the world. It has now gotten impossible to limit people reaching out to others when there is the need. Twitter is truly much more than a 140 text characters.

Newsweek: A Twitter timeline of the Iran election:

http://bit.ly/aITkT

2010 Census: A New Portrait of America

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:21:00 +0000

2010 Census: A New Portrait of America

This is a very interesting video from the US Census Bureau. It describe why the 2010 census is probably the most important one in US history. It explains how the census is used by all levels of government to allocate funds for services. This would be appropriate for use in many classes and groups.

http://tinyurl.com/krqqwv

-----------------------------------------

Wilfred (Bill) Drew, M.S., B.S., A.S.

Assistant Professor

Librarian, Systems and Tech Services/Electronic Resources/Serials

Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3) Library:

http://www.tc3.edu/library/

Dryden, N.Y. 13053-0139

Follow the library: http://twitter.com/TC3Library

E-mail: dreww@tc3.edu

Phone: 607-844-8222 ext.4406

AIM/SKYPE/Twitter:BillDrew4

Online Identity: http://claimID.com/billdrew

Strengths: Ideation, Input, Learner, Command, Analytical

http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill_Drew/

PPlease consider the environment before printing this e-mail or document.

Brief Analyis of Five Twitter Analysis Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:06:00 +0000

This morning I got a link to a good article on "Top Five Twitter Analytical Tools." The five tools are:

TwitterAnalyzer
Twinfluence
TweetStats
Twitter Grader
TweetPsych

Here are the tweets I sent after trying the services:

TwitterAnalyzer: My tweet: Confusing analysis tool Twitter Analyzer http://twitteranalyzer.com Tweeting of results doesn't work?

My first look at the results of this tool turned me off. It only looks at the current date and does not offer an easy to find way to put in a date range. It shows lots of confusing data with little explanation and no real analysis.

Twinfluence: My tweet: One of the better analysis tools! RT @twinfluence: 06/24/09 http://twinfluence.com score for @billdrew4: Reach=2,051,270, Rank=#30,702

This is one of the quickest and easiest ones to use. The results are clearly explained. It is concise and to the point. My score with explanation is at http://twinfluence.com/?u=billdrew4 .

TweetStats: My tweet: Good analysis tool. My TweetStats! http://tweetstats.com/graph... @tweetstats

I like this site because it is fast and provides easy to understand charts. It also can give you a very interesting and useful word cloud of your tweets. The site also keeps track of trending topics and graphs them.

Twitter Grader: My tweet: Easiest 2 use. gd way 2 decide 2 follow/unfollow ppl @billdrew4 got a grade of 97.1/100 on @grader. Check it out: http://bit.ly/9skc5

Twitter Grader is clearly my favorite. It can be slow but does give you an easy to understand analysis. It is a simple ranking. The site does provide and explanation.

TweetPsych: My Tweet: Interesting as a curiosity. Real Value? not sure.Psychological Profiling Via Twitter: http://TweetPsych.com?name=...

This service in interesting as a distraction but has no real value as far as I can see as an analytical tool.

My analysis is my own opinion and is subject to change. It is also very subjective. Your mileage may very from mine.

Twitter, tweetpsych, twittergrader, tweetstats, TwitterAnalyzer, twifluence

#sunyla09 Future of Libraries Discussion

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:34:00 +0000

Dialogue - Future Directions Whitney 122
Maureen Zajkowski (OLIS)
Much has been written on the role of academic libraries in a digital age. Questions have been raised about the ongoing viability of traditional structures and services of academic libraries. Building on these themes, the OLIS proposes a session for the SUNY community to discuss future directions for our libraries. If you are looking for a presentation or answers, don't attend this session. However, please participate if you are interested in conversations on the evolving expectations of the academic library and its role in learning, teaching, and research. Our goal is to learn from each other, to stretch our thinking outside of normal comfort zones, and to create a welcoming environment where challenging ideas can be explored.

Main Thoughts:

Cost/Time of maintenance on ALEPH
Concentrate on other discovery tools
More time to do other projects / resources besides ALPEH
Problems w/ getting articles that may be embargoed.
Don't have access to same resources on all campuses
Collaborate!!
Need to get people talking more.

OLIS, Future of Libraries, SUNYLA09

#sunyla09 : R. David Lankes keynote speaker

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:15:00 +0000

Here are some high points from R. David Lankes, Syracuse University "Ischool," keynote at SUNYLA 2009:

Title: Einstein Goes to a Party:

Einstein story -

Journalists equating themselves with the newspaper print format. With their tools not with what they do.
Is higher education = physical facilities? or place?
books = libraries now silly discussion.
Arrogance of thinking Google will put us out of our business.
Fear of being put out of business.
They do the same things as us (Functional)
Google not in information/knowledge business. Google world's largest advertising agency.
Amazon is WalMart Online.
Users want the best but can't define what is the best. Have to take what they get.
Cheetah/dog analogy. Dog goes fast for a longer period of time. Cheetah for shorter distances. Functional equivalents.
Functional equivalents- Wikipedia / Encarta (August 2004)
Overtime Wikipedia grew but Encarta stayed flat. Difference is user participation.
Users want to shape the world.
MySpace/Geocities -(August 2004) - same results happened.
Need to define world why we do it not what we do.
Google works in connected world. Libraries do bags of words.
Google and libraries in different worlds.
Need to connect to citations in books.
ALA Core Competencies of Librarianship - functional definitions no "why"
Need to know why as well as how.
Library of Alexandria was a campus not a building. Library building was actually dormitory of intellectuals.
Migration from collection to scholarship
from dissemination to action
from sharing to action
Knowledge in individuals not in books (artifacts).
Learning/Reading is conversation with one's self.
In Knowledge Business
Information is not Knowledge
Learning/Change/Knowledge Business - academic libraries/librarians
Mission of Librarians: To Improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities.
Librarianship is a noble profession/vocation.
Every librarian has a story that inspires them.
Can better the world through knowledge
Need to know why you do something.
Based on Conversation Theory- Conversants, Language,Memory, Agreements
Entailment Mesh brings it all together
Need a Why view!
Learn from Google as tools.
Play
Take Risks
Focus on the mission
Librarians are the connective tissue of an organization.
Obligation to INNOVATE!
Must LEAD
Must SERVE
We are trusted third party source.
How does ___ help me solve my problems? Apply the tools
http://www.DavidLankes.org
Webcast on his website.

SUNYLA09, R. David Lankes, SUNYLA, libraries

The Computer Ate My Homework

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:53:00 +0000

Another interesting and useful story from the Chronicle.

"Forget about making up stories about sick relatives. There’s a new way to get around homework deadlines by sending professors corrupted documents, buying a student extra time because the professor will likely blame computer errors and take hours or days to ask for a new version. There are, however, ways to identify the frauds. "

Full Story at:
Wired Campus: 'The Computer Ate My Homework': How to Detect Fake Techno-Excuses - Chronicle.com

Chronicle, homework, computers, higher education

6 Lessons One Campus Learned About E-Textbooks

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:49:00 +0000

This is a very interesting and timely article about using Sony Reader and e-textbooks. The conclusions reached are important to all thinking about doing such a project.

"Northwest Missouri State University nearly became the first public university to deliver all of its textbooks electronically. Last year the institution's tech-happy president, Dean L. Hubbard, bought a Kindle, Amazon's e-book reading device, and liked it so much that he wanted to give every incoming student one. The university already runs an unusual textbook-rental program that buys thousands of printed books for students who pay a flat, per-credit fee. Mr. Hubbard saw in the gadget a way to drastically cut the rental program's annual $800,000 price tag, since e-books generally cost half the price of printed textbooks."

Full Story at:
6 Lessons One Campus Learned About E-Textbooks - Chronicle.com

e-textbooks, e-books, SONY

The Twitter Book ( #twitterbook )

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:01:00 +0000

Recently, I purchased The Twitter Book by Tim O'Reilly and Sarah Milstein. It is a must purchase for any one thinking about using Twitter or anyone already using Twitter. It is full of lots of great tips and suggestions on using Twitter. I learned a lot from it. I was going to write a long review of the book but others have already done that. I purchased the print version and the e-book version. So far, it is the only book where I have done that. I have been reading the e-book on a two monitor set up with the book on one screen and my web browser in the other. Go out and buy it from O'Reilly.

Twitter, Twitter Book

Put a People-Powered Internet First

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:21:00 +0000

Dear Friend,

I thought you might be interested in telling the FCC to support an open and accessible Internet.

The Federal Communications Commission is busy crafting America's first national broadband plan, and they're asking for your input. So tell them you support an open, fast, affordable and people-powered Internet without corporate gatekeepers.

The big media bosses will be adding their own comments, in favor of nasty things like content inspection and usage penalties. So it's important that you push back with what you want.

To learn more, send your message directly to the FCC:
https://secure.freepress.net/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=321

You can also check out what's a stake by visiting www.freepress.net.

To take action on this issue, click on the link below:
https://secure.freepress.net/site/Advocacy?s_oo=Pei4yARztx6zeuu0AnAYVw..&id=321
If the text above does not appear as a link or it wraps across multiple lines, then copy and paste it into the address area of your browser.

Support Obama on health care reform

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:57:00 +0000

Subject: Support Obama on health care reform

Hi,

On Wednesday,
President Obama reaffirmed his support for a public health insurance option--the
key piece of health care reform that will provide coverage for all Americans and
help bring costs down.

But as the health care fight heats up, right-wing
lobbyists and conservatives in Congress are working hard to kill the public
health insurance option.

I signed a petition today telling Congress I
stand with Obama on health care reform. Can you join me at the link
below?

http://pol.moveon.org/popetition/

Thanks!

National Healthcare Reform

Spell with Flickr

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:36:00 +0000

My name spelled out in images. Do yours at Spell with Flickr.

Flickr, mashup

Letter from the new SUNY Chancellor

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:36:00 +0000

This was just sent to all SUNY campuses via e-mail. Chancellor Nancy Zimpher will have a web cast at 11 am. Go to http://www.suny.edu/ and click on Chancellor Webcasts. It will be on YouTube later today.

Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to write you this morning on my first official day as Chancellor of the State University of New York. Today and the days ahead will be filled with excitement - for me and hopefully for you as well - as we join together to make SUNY the best it can be and a model not only for the nation but for the world.

My eagerness to get started comes with tremendous optimism and also with a great sense of humility. During my career in public higher education as a faculty member, administrator and campus leader, I have been a SUNY watcher, fan, and admirer. But I am new to New York and to the SUNY system and hope all of you will share your insights, ideas, guidance, and feedback.

I will spend much of the next few months listening and learning as I tour all 64 campuses between now and Labor Day to meet with colleagues, constituencies and friends in all the communities that SUNY calls home. Rest assured this will be no passive exercise; it is a time of action as we lay the groundwork for a strategic plan that positions SUNY for the era to come.

Public higher education is endowed with a special mission founded on three building blocks - excellence, access, and value. Our mission leads us to great research, great teaching and great contributions to New York's economy and quality of life.

I see SUNY as a system filled with wonderful opportunities - to grow and strengthen our academic programs and research, to be an economic engine for the whole state, and to be the best possible steward of our noble public mission as the largest comprehensive public higher education system in the world.

Yes, we face challenges. But those are challenges we can meet together by agreeing that each of us has a great contribution to make in moving SUNY forward. That means collaborating, working in partnership and sharing our best ideas in the knowledge that SUNY belongs to all of us.

I believe strongly in open, honest, two-way communications. I intend to keep you fully informed as our mutual goals and implementation strategies emerge. I hope you will share with me your thoughts on how we're doing and your ideas for how we can do better.

All of this is part of a SUNY-wide strategic planning process that begins with these conversations and moves into full gear in September. This will be the most comprehensive and inclusive strategic planning process in the State University's 60-year history.

This dialogue with the entire SUNY family starts today with a system-wide webcast at 11 am. Please join us. You can access the webcast by visiting www.suny.edu and clicking Chancellor Webcasts starting at 11 am. It will also be posted later today at suny.edu and on YouTube.

Again, let me simply say how honored I am to serve as the 12th Chancellor of SUNY and how eager I am to get to work with all of you.

Sincerely,

Nancy Zimpher
Chancellor
The State University of New York

SUNY, webcast, Chancellor Zimpher, New York State, Higher Education

Tip from The Twitter Book on unfollowing

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:34:00 +0000

I found this great tip (#TwitterBook) on unfollowing people in Twitter. This book is a must have for any serious user of Twitter!

"By the way, we can't recommend signing up for unfollow notices yourself. First, they lend to obsessing about popularity. Second, they purport to tell you when people unfollow you after a certain tweet, but they rarely, if ever, show that data accurately. We suggest cultivating good relationships where you can and not worrying about the rest."

The Twitter Book
By Tim O'Reilly,Sarah Milstein
May 2009
Pages: 240
ISBN 10: 0-596-80281-1 | ISBN 13: 9780596802813

Twitterbook, Twitter

Twittering at Academic conferences

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Wed, 27 May 2009 12:58:00 +0000

This is an interesting story on the use of Twitter at academic conferences. Read the full story at :Wired Campus: Paper Highlights Pros and Cons of Twittering at Academic Conferences - Chronicle.com

Twitter, Higher Education

SMS Twitter Phone numbers from #Twitterbook

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:40:00 +0000

Twitter tip from #Twitterbook for using SMS on your phone to twitter:

To post a message from your phone in the US, use the code 40404. In Canada, use 21212. In the UK, Vodafone users can text to the local UK Vodafone short code 86444; people on all other UK carriers should use +44 7624 801423. In Sweden, use: +46 737 494222. In Germany, use +49 17 6888 50505. Anywhere else, use +44 7624 801423.

twitterbook, twitter

My Favorite Twitter Tools and Applications

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:25:00 +0000

http://twitter.com

bit.ly
-- http://www.bit.ly/ -- allows
users to shorten, share, and track links (URLs). Reducing the URL length
makes sharing easier. bit.ly can be accessed through the website,
bookmarklets and a robust and open API. Track click-throughs.
Hashtags -
http://hashtags.org/ -- community-driven convention for adding additional
context and metadata to your tweets. They're like tags on Flickr, only
added inline to your post. You create a hashtag simply by prefixing a word
with a hash symbol: #hashtag.
HootSuite
- http://hootsuite.com/ -- The ultimate Twitter toolbox. With HootSuite,
you can manage multiple Twitter profiles, pre-schedule tweets, and measure
your success.
Topify - http://topify.com/
-- Email notification, Direct messages via email, Follow by replying.
Tweetmeme
-- http://www.tweetmeme.com/ -- aggregates all the popular links on
Twitter to determine which links are popular. Analyses links that people
have "tweeted", organizing and categorizing them - delivering
streams of the most popular.
Twhirl - http://www.twhirl.org
- A multi-account Twitter desktop client based on AIR and Flex. Compact
UI, keyboard shortcuts, many features like auto-connect, auto-refreshing
tweets, sending updates, replies, direct messages and more
Twitter
Grader http://twitter.grader.com/ -- Free tool to measure
your power and reach on twitter.
Twitterfeed
- http://www.twitterfeed.com -- feed your blog to twitter, identi.ca,
HelloTxt or Ping.fm
TwitterLocal
-- http://www.twitterlocal.net/ -- desktop Adobe AIR client to filter
Tweets by location.
TwitterSheep
-- http://twittersheep.com/
-- Create a tag cloud from the 'bios' of your twitter flock.
We Follow
- http://wefollow.com/ -- user powered
Twitter Directory. Assign tags to
your Twitter ID that describes yourself.

Follow me at http://twitter.com/BillDrew4

Best Careers 2009: Librarian

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:29:00 +0000

I always knew I made a good career choice 25 years ago. It looks like it is still a good choice.

"Overview.Forget about that image of librarians as a mousy bookworms. More and more of today's librarians must be clever interrogators, helping the patron to reframe their question more usefully. Librarians then become high-tech information sleuths, helping patrons plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital records, often starting with a clever Google search but frequently going well beyond."

Read ful story at Best Careers 2009: Librarian - US News and World Report

careers, librarians, librarianship

TC3 Softball Perfect at Day One at Nationals

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Fri, 15 May 2009 01:20:00 +0000

The TC3 softball team finished the first day perfect at the NJCAA Division III national tournament in Rochester, Minn., beating Brookdale Community College (N.J.) 14-9 in the team’s second game Thursday. The Panthers, earlier winners over Westmoreland County CC (Penn.), now advance to take on Monroe Community College Friday at 4 p.m. That game will feature the only undefeated teams left in the double elimination tournament.

Google Chrome -- yawn!!

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Fri, 15 May 2009 00:52:00 +0000

Don't get me wrong. I like Google Chrome. What I want to see is some new features that blow the socks off Internet Explorer and even FireFox. Both need some real competition. I open up Google Chrome when ever I read about a new update so that I have the latest and greatest version. Most of the work is on stuff most of us will never notice. That is fine but if Google Chrome is going to compete seriously with Internet Explorer, it needs some really cool and new features. At the very least, make it so I can easily add my favorite FireFox add-ons to it. Add some features to interact with other Google products such as Blogger for easier blogging. WAKE UP GOOGLE CHROME DEVELOPERS. You are missing some great opportunities to become my browser of choice. The only visible change recently is Google Chrome asking to be my default browser. Not yet!!

Google Chrome

PC Magazine - online only by subscription!

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:39:00 +0000

I just recently discovered that one of our more popular magazines here at TC3, PC Magazine , has gone completely online. I understand the necessity to do this but the model picked by PC Magazine will not work for libraries as it is currently set up. It is targeted at individual subscriptions not libraries. There is no obvious way for allowing multiple users to see each issue. They also require use of the Zinio viewer/reader. It requires registration and an active Zinio account. In other words, it is not free and can't just be installed by the user. PC Magazine is no the only magazine doing this type of publication. Many other ones can be see at the Zinio site. I have asked EBSCO to cancel our subscription immediately. How and where do we apply pressure to publishers to allow access for legitiamte users for titles we pay for?

Spam, Spam, Spammity, Spam!

noreply@blogger.com (Bill Drew) — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:55:00 +0000

As a user of Twitter and a owner of a Ning network, I am seeing new forms of Spam coming in. I have three Twitter accounts I manage and I have seen lots of "people" following the accounts that have nothing what so ever to do with libraries or technologies. I found several followers on the library twitter that were obviously following anyone that they could find. On my own personal account, I am getting followers that appear at first glance to be single lonely women. I started using Topify to manage my personal Twitter account. It sends me an e-mail when someone new starts to follow me. I can then check on the new follower. Over the past two days I have seen at least 40 illegitimate followers using deceptive usernames. Many of the single women, when I went and looked at their tweets, were simply posting hundreds of links to other sites or to porn sites. I have my twitter accounts set to only allow direct messaging with people who I also follow.

On Ning, I have people requesting to join my Library 2.0 network that clearly are not interested in libraries at all. Some are very blatant about it and others are a bit more subtle. I am erring on the side of caution in approving new members. I can actually ban someone completely or just not accept their membership. I get about ten of these every day. Having to approve new members is a pain but at least I have not had any spam across the network since I started doing it.

It looks like as e-mail spam filters have improved, spammers are trying to find other ways to reach out and touch us all. The spammers watch developing technologies just as much as we do.