An interesting report on the popularity (and necessity!) of libraries in today’s economy from the Today show.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Handling Information Overload
June 10, 2009 — informaniaInformation 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…..
June 9, 2009 — informania
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
