Save the Words!

The English language is growing by leaps and bounds with new words entering our vocabulary daily.  Unfortunately, some existing words are used less frequently (or not at all) because of this.

Enter SavetheWords.org.  Visit this site and words bordering on extinction will literally call out to you. Click on any word to see its definition and its use in a sentence.

Sign up for a free account and save a word (or two or three).  I am now the proud parent of “pudify.”  Because I am often pudified when I stick my foot in my mouth, I decided to rescue this word.

I hope that my readers (all three of you) will step up to the plate and rescue a word from extinction.  Otherwise, I will be pudified that my attempt to bring light to this worthy cause failed.

I wish to thank “A Library by Any Other Name” for posting information on this site.

The Ultimate Teen Bookshelf from YALSA

Another notable reader’s advisory and collection development tool has just been released. The Ultimate Teen Bookshelf list  is available for download as a .pdf file.  The list includes 50 books, 5 magazines, and 5 audiobooks.  It was compiled by Pam Spencer Holley and Judy Sasges from suggestions by subscribers to the YALSA-BK discussion list.

“Ultimate YA Bookshelf,” American Library Association, June 25, 2009.
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/yabookshelf.cfm (Accessed July 01, 2009)
Document ID: 549310

What Do I Read Next?

Summer time.  A delicious respite from the hectic bell schedule we library media specialists and teachers must adhere to during the rest of the year.  Time to relax and read.  I have a “To Read” list that I occasionally add to, but often don’t see anything on it that tickles my fancy when I am in-between books.  Here are several  free Web 2.0 Readers’ Advisory tools that I’ll use and recommend to my faculty and students.

The Book Seer

Type in the title and author of a book you recently read on The Book Seer site and get recommendations from Amazon and LibraryThing (although I received no recommendations from LibraryThing with several different books including Twilight – gasp!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teacher Book Wizard

Scholastic has created a site that offers multiple options.  The Teacher Book Wizard’s Book Alike helps you locate similar books based on reading level.  Great for creating those Readers’ Advisory lists.  The List Exchange page provides lists of books in many categories including awards, grade level, author recommended, and themed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To learn more about this teacher created site for teachers, take the tour.

What Should I Read Next?

What Should I Read Next asks you to enter the title and author of a book you recently enjoyed.  The results returned are from a database created by the users of the site. 

Taking Control of Your Clogged Gmail Inbox

I have a love/hate relationship with email.  Each day I open my Gmail in the expectation that I will get a great email from a family member or friend that will just make my day.  Those are the emails I read immediately.  But there are countless other emails that greet me as I open my inbox. 

 I have recently spent time unsubscribing from several automated emails, but there are other automated emails  I still wish to receive but may not have the time or inclination to read pronto.  They sit in my inbox – a reminder that if I don’t know exactly what to do with an email, my inbox never seems to get cleared out.

So this morning when  I stumbled across the “Problogger” blog, I was overjoyed to read  the post entitled “From 10,000 to 0 Emails in an Inbox in 24 Hours” . It  inspired me to try Gmail’s filtering feature to alleviate the Inbox Clog that I typically experience.

Use the Gmail Filtering Feature

To set up filtering on your Gmail, click on “Settings,” “Filters,” and then “Create a New Filter.”  You can then choose from five different search criteria:  “From,” “ To,” “ Subject,” “ Has the Words,” “ Doesn’t Have. ”  Type in your terms, click on “Test Search,” and analyse your results.

From there, you can choose:  “Skip Inbox (Archive It),” “Mark as Read,” “Star It,” “Apply the Label,” “Forward it To,” “Delete It,” and/or “Never Send it to Spam.”  Then click on “Create Filter” and take control of your Inbox! 

You can also choose to color code your labels.  Find the box on your Gmail Inbox page labeled “Labels.”  Click on the box to the right of the label you wish to color code and choose your color.  

Google also provides a demo of using labels and filters.

Be Ruthless

You may create as many filters as you wish.  Be ruthless – take control of that Inbox!

Any other suggestions on how to tame my inbox?

 

Image attribution:  Gmail overload  http://www.flickr.com/photos/20645801@N00/20732186

YA Series: The Immortals Continues

The second book in The Immortals series will be released on July 7th.  Barnes and Noble, I’m so there!

Library Usage Soars in Poor Economy

An interesting report on the popularity (and necessity!) of libraries in today’s economy from the Today show.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/31237988#31237988

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Handling Information Overload

Information Overload

Ever suffered from information overload? Wasted time surfing on the Internet because your searches return too many results? I can answer “Guilty” to both so this summer I want to further hone my searching techniques.

Google Basic Search

Most of us have executed numerous basic searches on Google, only to be bombarded with thousands, if not millions, of hits.  For example, this basic search on Edward Cullen turned up 6,260,000 results.  Quite a bit to look through. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Google Squared

Google Labs introduced Google Squared at its second Searchology event in May of 2009. 

“Unlike a normal search engine, Google Squared doesn’t find webpages about your topic — instead, it automatically fetches and organizes facts from across the Internet.”  from the Official Google Blog

The same search on Edward Cullen in Google Squared produced this square:

 

 

To try out this new search feature for yourself, go to Google Squared and enter your search term in the box.  Click on “Square It” and see how Google has organized information about your topic.  If you have an iGoogle account, you can save your searches.

Benefits of Google Squared?

I’ll have to do quite a bit more playing with Google Squared to determine if it make locating the information I need more quickly than an Advanced Search.  I love the idea of an organized result list, but did you notice that Bella is listed as a Guinea Pig under Species and Emmett is listed as a Rainbow Trout?  Hmm….much different story line would come from those ideas.

Suggestions?

I would love for others to share their tips for efficient and effective searching techniques.   What works best for you?

And the Winner Is…..

http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/index.php?terms=searchlights&page=1&edit=yes&com=no

Recognizing Excellence!

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences bestows the Grammys (short for Gramophone), the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League recognize achievement with Tony Awards, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes excellence with Oscar winners.

Excellence in literature is recognized with myriad awards.  There is the Pulitzer Prize  for newspaper journalism and literature, the Edgar given by the Mystery Writers of America, and the Newbery Medal given by the Association of Library Service to Children just to name a few.

Recognizing Excellence?

Then there are the awards that no one wants to win or awards won for negative reasons.  There’s the FBI’s Tne Most Wanted Fugitives list,  Mr. Blackwell’s Top Ten Worst Dressed Women list  which acknowledged* celebrities’ fashion faux pas, and  the English Department at San Jose University’s Bulwer-Lytton Fiction contest that  encourages bad writing (recognizing “winners”  and dishonorable mentions for the opening sentence to the worst possible novel).

The MUSTIE Award

Librarians and school library media specialists are charged with developing their library’s collection. The obvious way to do this is by purchasing materials which will meet the needs of the library’s users.  But the not so obvious way is to pull and dispose of materials which are no longer meeting the users’ needs.

Librarians have been known to pull and dispose of these materials in the dark of night so as not to raise the ire of bibliophiles everywhere:  “What?!!! Throw out books?  Preposterous!”  I propose a new award to add glamour to the fine art of weeding:  the MUSTIE.

The term “MUSTIE” is defined by CREW: A Weeding Manual for Modern Libraries  in this manner:

M =  Misleading (and/or factually inaccurate)

U=  Ugly (worn and beyond mending or rebinding)

S=  Superseded (by a truly new edition or by a much better book on the subject)

T= Trivial (of no discernable literary or scientific merit; usually of ephemeral interest at some time in the past)

I=  Irrevelant to the needs and interests of your community

E=  The material or information may be obtained expeditiously Elsewhere through interlibrary loan, reciprocal borrowing, or in electronic format

 The 2009 Boiling Springs High School Library Media Center’s MUSTIE award goes to:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arnold, Robert ,Harold Hill, and Aylmer Nichols. Modern Data Processing (Second Edition). New York:  John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1972.

 Although this book obviously was cutting edge for 1972, it now easily fits the MUSTIE criteria:  misleading, ugly (although it could be mended), superseded, trivial, irrelevant, and up-to-date information can be found elsewhere.

Now, how to celebrate the book’s winning the MUSTIE Award?  Keep it on display as an example of outdated material (keeping the bibliophiles happy), or send it on to book heaven?  After all, it has earned a jewel in its crown there now! 

 

*Richard Blackwell, fashion critic, died on Oct. 18, 2008

Those Were the Days: A Meme

I’ve been tagged for a meme by my good friend Cathy Nelson.  One of my favorite bloggers, Shannon Wham, started the meme and I will do my best to keep it going!

My meme assignment?  Share childhood memories of bygone pastimes (that our students don’t have the opportunity to experience).

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:K%C3%BCrbis_Fratze.jpg1

1.  Halloween Trick-or-Treating

  Yes, I know that this tradition still exists, but because of the world-gone-crazy, my daughters didn’t get to experience the full-blown trick-or-treating that my brothers, friends, and I did.  Halloween costumes were much simpler then; I often came home from school and pulled together a “hobo” outfit:  flannel shirt, a bandana on the end of a long stick, and charcoal smudges on my face.  My friends and I would meet just before dark and revel in the absence of adults as we went door-to-door in our neighborhood for hours.  We knew the houses that had the “best” treats – for me it was chocolate bars.  If time were running out on us (we did have curfews), we would only hit those good houses as we tried to load up on the goodies.  On cold Halloween nights, we made sure to visit the house several streets over from mine where you were invited inside and given a cup of hot chocolate.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wizard_of_oz_movie_poster.jpg2. 

2.   ”The Wizard of Oz”

  Long before the days of VCRs and even remote controls, I looked forward to one night a year when my absolute favorite movie would be aired.  We couldn’t own it, or record it, or even pause it as we were watching - we watched when the television station decided to air the movie.  As a young child, my bedtime was 8:00, so getting to stay up past that hour to watch television made the whole experience even more delicious.  On the one night a year that “The Wizard of Oz” was on, my brothers and I would bathe early and sit in front of the tv in our pj’s, transfixed by Dorothy and Toto’s magical journey from Kansas to Oz.  Unfortunately this experience cannot be replicated in today’s “gotta have it NOW” society.  Even if a show is only aired once a year (think “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer”), we can own it on DVD or record it to watch at our leisure, which robs us of the anticipation that kids of yesteryear experienced.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1970GTOJudge.jpg3. 

3.  Dragging Main Street

    On Friday and Saturday nights (and sometimes Sunday afternoons), my teenaged friends and I would pile in one car and head to THE teenage destination:  Main Street in downtown Greenville.   Dragging Main Street was an inexpensive way to pass the time (you could ride forever on $5.00 worth of gas), see friends, and make new friends of the opposite sex. The normal circuit began at the Daniel Building on one end of downtown and ended at the street right past Belk department store. Rather than drive the route, some people would park on the side of the street and watch the cars make the circuit.  For hours on end, teens rode up and down the street.  When you and your friends saw some guys you wanted to meet in another car, you would look for that car each time around the circuit, hoping to talk with them and set up a place off of the main drag to meet. 

    My daughters have told me that teens still drag certain areas on the weekends, but no longer is Main Street in Greenville their destination; dragging was “outlawed” due to the traffic congestion and rowdy nature of some of those dragging.  There was something magical about that street; there were enough red lights to insure that you had to stop often and plenty of off streets to meet up.

    I actually met my husband of 31 years there for the first time since we attended rival high schools; when we met up with him and his friends, I ended up dating one of his friends.  It wasn’t until a couple of years later that we began dating; but if it weren’t for dragging Main Street, who knows if we would have ever met? 

Okay, now that I have had great fun reminiscing, I tag Susan Myers, Buffy Hamilton, and John Woodring.

2009 Teens’ Top Ten Nominations

 

http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/index.php?terms=reading&page=5&edit=yes&com=no

The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has announced the 2009 Teens’ Top Ten Nominations.  Teens across the country are invited to read the twenty-five titles and vote on their three favorites during YALSA’s Teen Read Week which will be held October 18-24, 2009.

These are the books you should encourage your teens to be reading in preparation for Teen Read Week:

Cashore, Kristin   Graceling

Cast, Kristin & P.C.   Untamed

Clare, Cassandra    City of Ashes

Collins, Suzanne   The Hunger Games

Fukui, Isamu   Truancy

Fukui, Isamu   Truancy:  Origins

Gaiman, Neil   The Graveyard Book

Green, John   Paper Towns

Harris, Joanne   Runemarks

Hopkins, Ellen   Identical

Lockhart, E.   The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Marriott, Zoe   Daughter of the Flames

McMann, Lisa   Wake

Meyer, Stephenie   Breaking Dawn

Moran, Katy   Bloodline

Ness, Patrick   The Knife of Never Letting Go

Noel, Alyson   Evermore

Palmer, Robin   Geek Charming

Pierce, Tamora   Melting Stones

Scott, Elizabeth   Living Dead Girl

Smith, Cynthia Leitich   Eternal

Smith, Sherri L.   Flygirl

Weingarten, Lynn  Wherever Nina Lies

Werlin, Nancy   Impossible

Yee, Lisa   Absolutely Maybe

 Past Teens Top Ten lists from 2003 – 2008 are available here.