Author Archive
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
LibGuides
Last week I found out about one of the coolest library technologies that’s come down the pike. It’s a Web 2.0 application designed for Library 2.0. It’s called LibGuides and it’s worth getting excited about.
It’s a system for providing information and resources to library patrons in an engaging and organized way, but without the information [...]
5 Comments » - Posted in Libraries, Technology by pfitz
Tuesday, September 11th, 2007
Some Copyright Issues
Open Access is a big deal to librarians. Or at least it should be. It’s all about getting free and open access to scholarly literature. Many publishers are against this because it will mean they’ll lose money. They cover their greed, though, by invoking ideas of authority, quality, and the need for peer reviews. While [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Libraries by pfitz
Wednesday, September 5th, 2007
Library User Trend - Specialization
Are we becoming a more specialized information-seeking culture? Given the advent of the internet, it appears that students and other information seekers are foregoing the use of general resources and heading straight for where they think the answer is. Keyword searching has brought on a mentality of pinpointing information rather than locating general topical resources [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Libraries by pfitz
Friday, August 31st, 2007
Social Web
Web 2.0, social networking, the social web… all different terms for the Internet phenomenon that is promoting greater interactivity and connectivity between people of similar interests. It’s also my term for what’s going on in Lake Tawakoni State Park in Texas. With SPIDERS!
Tonight on the way home from work I was listening to NPR’s [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Miscellaneous by pfitz
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007
Typewriters
It’s funny how technological innovations eventually become commonplace and then forgotten. My six-year-old was doing his homework last night and had to write the first and last letters of things that were pictured on his worksheet. When he got to a typewriter he asked me what it was.
Isn’t that funny? He asked me what it [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Technology by pfitz
Thursday, August 9th, 2007
Beer for Books
I was recently told about a study reported in ScienceDaily (taken from a news release by the American Academy of Neurology) that showed that the damage to parts of the brain that results from exposure to lead (whether through occupational exposure, etc.) was significantly lower in people who read more. Reading helps build synapses and [...]
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