Williams Library Spotlight

These animated videos by Figli-Migli Productions are wonderful and fun to watch.  Select one of the videos (e.g. Return I will to Old Brazil) on the black navigation bar at the top.  I originally saw one of these videos on RocketBoom.

Last week, one of the library’s student workers exhibited her senior portfolio of acrylic paintings. There was a great turn out and the guests were impressed with the work. Another artist attending the function commented that Stephanie’s work had great skin tones, which very difficult in acrylics.  Stephanie, great show and congratulations!  

• Artisit’s homepage

Select the Flickr photos on the right bar to view more of the event’s photos.

Today, on the Chronicle.com’s Wired Campus blog sociologist “Eszter Hargittai, an assistant professor in Northwestern University’s sociology department, has discovered that students aren’t nearly as Web-savvy as they, or their elders, assume.” Most librarians and many professors have already discovered this. This Q&A article is a good reminder that most “digital natives” are not knowledgeable about web technology nor the many tools (e.g. search engines) they use work. Read the article’s comments too.

I just attended the Off-Campus Library Service conference in Salt Lake Cityand received many good ideas.  One session discussed using screencasting sofware (e.g. Adobe Captivate) and how the library can track usage with Google Analytics.  It appears the average time a student watches a library demo is about 2 minutes.  A few sessions discussed e-resources (proprietary e-books, e-reference, free e-books, government sites, etc).  Two of the session were trying to figure if students use e-resources and how to make student more aware of them.  Another tried a visual display to simulate “browsing” the reference stacks.   There is no doubt on and off campus want more access to electronic resources, but trying to figure out the best way for students to find and these resources is a challenge.

Today, the WashingtonPost ran an article about WEbook.com.  It is “an online publishing platform that allows writers, editors, reviewers, illustrators and others to join forces to create great works of fiction and non-fiction, thrillers and essays, short stories, children’s books and more.”  For example, multiple people may write one book together.  All of the “publications” are online, but this week WEbook is publishing its first print book, Pandora, written by 72 authors.  I could not think of a more appropriate title.

The FBI has just released its 2007 Internet Crime Report.  This page provides a list of the Top Internet Scams, which include:

• Pets scams
• Secret Shopper and Transfer scams
• Adoption and Charity scams
• Romance fraud.

Last week was Sunshine Week, a week to celebrate and promote the idea of transparency in government (local, state, and federal). The idea is the more transparent the government the more the public knows what the government is doing in the public’s name and how the government is spending the public’s tax dollars. The information will help the public and other government officials make informed decisions and informed votes. There are definite issues dealing with privacy and security, and the issue is not black and white. The challenge is to define that line. Though it seems the presumption of openness is better than secrecy. Below are resources that may help one inform his/herself about the federal government and legislators. Plus, many state and local government sites are useful.

• OpenSecrets.org
• OpenCongress.org
• OMBwatch.org
• Project Vote Smart

Last week, I sat in on a webinar (terrible word) on OCLC’s WorldCat Local.  This catalog interface appears to be more useful than the general OPAC.  I like the idea that the Local holdingds display first, then the regional consortium, and finally the rest of WorldCat.  WorldCat Local also provides the social network options.  A patron may add a record to his social network (e.g. del.ic.ous) and add comments to a record.  The record holding also list articles from certain databases (I hope more are added int eh future).  I think this interface is headed in the right direction, but it is needs more improvements and there are free options (e.g. Plymouth State University) being used and in development.

The New York Times conducted a study with comScore and found Internet companies are gathering more and more information on users.  The article, To Aim Ads, Web is Keeping Closer Eye on You, by Louise Story explains the findings.  I only wish she had more quotes from the interviewees.

PC Magazine has put together a list of The Best Free Software.  It places each program into a category (e.g. Operating System, Blogging, Firewall).  I have used some of these, especially the ones listed in the “Hall of Fame.”  Look through this list and see if any of the program will make life a little easier.