n00brarian

The idealog of a freshly minted information literacy librarian.

[n00brarian]

Some cool annotation tool suggestions in this post and in the comments.

[n00brarian]

Actually kind of love these Demco products for giveaways.

[n00brarian]

LibGuides: Pedagogy to Oppress?

You have to be a pretty tenacious researcher to find any criticism about LibGuides, the practical and convenient tool that librarians use to create online guides to research. My search...

As we update our subject guides over the summer, I like keeping this article in mind.

[n00brarian]

So how do we motivate students when the material is inherently boring?

[n00brarian]

Diving into critical pedagogy: an alterative view of information literacy - The Ubiquitous Librarian - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Grateful for Brian Mathews raising this subject! I've got an even bigger knowledge gap than he admits to on this front. Just added a bunch of books and articles on this to my reading list. Looking forward to learning more and discussing at the #critlib unconference. 

[n00brarian]

Formative Assessment Strategies for Library Instruction

Presented for the EasyBib Professional Development Series. http://easybib.enterthemeeting.com/m/9ABKAEEM

Great presentation! Some good reminders about the difference between evaluation and assessment, and summative and formative assessment, and tips for technologies to make these more exciting.

[n00brarian]

Been thinking about how to use our iPads beyond just using them as cheaper and more portable laptops. Plenty of ideas here!

[n00brarian]

Have you all seen Google's LMS, Google Classroom? Limited functionality, but so much cleaner than Moodle! Wheels turning in my brain thinking of library session applications... h/t to Kyle Pace for mentioning it in his "Creating Even More with Google Drive" webinar.

[n00brarian]

Library pumpkins for Halloween...painted with chalkboard paint and written on with wipe-off chalk markers so we can change the message daily. 

[n00brarian]

Can't stop won't stop librarianing.

[newyorker]

"We, the earthbound, the desk-bound, and the disconsolate, can feel your churning delight. And, though we may be enjoying our own getaway flights in the near future, right now we hate you."

Ha! Guilty as charged.

Ian Crouch urges travellers to stop tweeting about their Friday-morning flights: http://nyr.kr/17yBJrG (via newyorker)

"Godspeed, safe travels, and go to hell."

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

Help our work against this ballot action now.

In the past 24 hours we’ve raised $1,125 to support 8 new ads in Lafourche to reach 55k voters. Help spread the word to VOTE NO on Saturday.

[n00brarian]

Trying to work with IT to get 15 iPads and an Apple TV to work with Apple Configurator this past week is giving me gray hairs. And a headache.

[n00brarian]

Just as I'm closing up the reference desk after another quiet shift, suddenly...

[n00brarian]

Tenure is a remarkable social contract between a scholar, who has to demonstrate her or his worth, and the greater society, which in return will benefit from having a group of highly-trained, highly responsible, highly ethical experts who are free to probe into unpopular areas and share controversial findings with their students and with the broader public without fear of losing their livelihood. It’s an act of trust that depends upon high standards. In my experience, it asks librarians who are party to that contract to do valuable work by being systematically curious, sharing results beyond her or his immediate community, and improving local practice through the kind of testing and probing that good scholarship promotes but which may not happen if it's not valued and supported.

Barbara Fister, "Open Access, Tenure, and the Common Good," Library Babel Fish on Inside Higher Ed, Oct. 22, 2013

[n00brarian]

What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus! 

[todaysdocument]

Cranks, Crack-pots, and Martians

"I suppose that by this time you have received many letters from numerous cranks and crack-pots who quickly became jitterbugs during the program. I was one of the thousands who heard this program and:

did not jump out of the window,

did not attempt suicide,

did not break my arm while beating a hasty retreat from my apartment,

did not anticipate a horrible death,

did not hear the Martians “rapping on my chamber door”,

did not see the monsters landing in war-like regalia in the park across the street…”

—Letter dated November 1, 1938, from J. V. Yaukey of Aberdeen, South Dakota, to the Federal Communications Commission regarding the “War of the Worlds” broadcast by Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater on the evening of October 30, 1938.

75 years ago on October 30, 1938, the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) broadcast an adaptation of The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells. The hour-long radio program began with an announcer introducing a musical performance and moments later interrupting with a special news bulletin describing the landing of Martians in New Jersey and their subsequent attacks with death rays. Although CBS made four announcements during the broadcast identifying it as a dramatic performance, millions of Americans who heard it were scared into some sort of action, many wrote letters. The newly created Federal Communications Commission received more than 600 letters about the broadcast, Not everyone took to the streets however, and many, like the writer of this letter, felt that others were overreacting.

via Prologue: "Jitterbugs" and "Crack-pots" Letters to the FCC about the “War of the Worlds” Broadcast 

[n00brarian]

I played an excerpt of the War of the Worlds broadcast in my class last night to explain the importance of not believing everything you hear, even when "experts" are cited!