Link O'Day: LISNews

Back in 2006 I started using Delicious which at that time was Del.icio.us for social bookmarking. Contrary to the big hoo-hah last fall, Delicious is still going strong and is not threatened with extinction. One of the first tags I started back then was "blogs." At that time I had students follow one blog for a semester and wanted to provide an ongoing list for them. Right now I have marked around 170 blogs. This one was the very first to be named and is still going strong. To be honest I have not been to this site in ages, but had fun with it tonight. The most recent featured story is about a disgruntled senior citizen who was arrested for putting condiments such as ketchup, mayonnaise, and maple syrup in her local library's book drops. Bad idea...landed her in the pokey. This blog highlights news stories from around the world, and is updated daily. Here is the self-description at the website:

"LISNews is a collaborative weblog [aka blog] devoted to current events and news in the world of Library and Information Science. A dedicated team of international bloggers scour the World Wide Web to find stories they find interesting. You'll find links to news stories and Web sites, along with original writing, interviews and reviews. LISNews is updated frequently, usually 7 days a week. We are a non-commercial site, supported by our users."

I scrolled through recent entries and saw a mix of serious, humorous, and offbeat. I did NOT see anything within the last few days about funding woes that are so much in the news right now. Maybe someone should send one in...they do call for submissions.

Link O'Day: Webspiration

Yesterday I shared a nifty mind-mapping site called Mindomo. It is a free site with a lot of potential and I thought it was well worth recommending. As mich as I like it though, I think Webspiration is better for teachers and kids. It is the Internet version of Inspiration software, long a favorite educational tool. Once Webspiration came along, it was free in BETA for the past three years. Now the free ride is scheduled t end. There is a notation at the Webspiration site that users who have joined prior the the end date of April 4 will be allowed to continue use through April 30 and then will be offered a discount for the future use of the site. This is one tool that I think is worth paying for, and if you take advantage of the last weeks of free service, then you can decide this for yourself. I feel sure there will be educational pricing. So hop on board while you have the chance!

Link O'Day: Mindomo

I love it when I learn from my students. Actually in this case I picked up a great link from a super former student, Naomi Bates. She posted the link to Mindomo via LM_NET. It is a fun and intuitive mind-mapping application, free online at the link above. You can just sign in with Facebook or create your own membership not linked to any other site. It reminds me a lot of Inspiration, another mind-mapping program. It looks a little simplistic compared to Inspiration, but it is FREE and you save your work right there at the site, in the cloud, so you can bring it up anywhere on any computer. I played with it enough to like it. I still like Inspiration better, but this may be a close second choice. Did I mention it was free?

Link O'Day: Multnoma County Library, Oregon

I have a soft spot for Multnoma County Libraries because I have visited them numerous times. In particular the downtown main library is quite wonderful. Here is a link with a good description of the downtown library: http://www.oregon.com/metro_portland_attractions/central_library
If you go, be sure and go into the Children's Room and see the storybook tree. It is a wonderful bronze sculpture with images of many well loved book characters. Surprisingly, it was not easy to find pictures of the sculpture. This link leads to the best ones I found.
http://norwitz.net/blog/2008/09/28/multnomah-library/
I have been to branch libraries as well, including a couple in charming older buildings. My daughter was a big library user there, and especially made use of their extensive collections of music.

Another thing I like about this library is their website.  Their site is a great reference tool. Teachers and librarians will do well to mark it, and anybody with an ounce of curiosity will enjoy browsing their links. So if you cannot get up to Portland and have a real visit, enjoy a virtual one!

This Saturday I will be teaching my Internet for Librarian class, and one thing we will of course talk about is website evaluation. Having students evaluate sites dealing with controversial topics is necessary for one of my assignments. The link below is one I will be showing--it is a list of social issues.

http://www.multcolib.org/homework/sochc.html#gen

Link O'Day: National Archives Digital Vaults

Had a bit of a hard day today. This leads me to want to end it on a positive note. Thus I am sharing one of my very favorite websites in the whole world. It defies description. Just go and browse. It also carries forward the theme from yesterday of history and primary source material.

Link O'Day: Footnote: The place for original historical documents online

On the evening of the State of the Union Address I thought a site that highlights American history is a good choice. This site puts thousands of primary source documents at the user's fingertips. Speeches, letters, legal documents, even photographs are included. There are several ways to access this information. You can browse using the timeline provided, or you can search for a specific name, event, or other search term. Also, there are eight special collections to browse. Certainly this site is invaluable for teachers and students, but I think it can be a great browse for any American or anyone interested in American history.

My Hero and Facebook Avatar, Dick Tracy

When I was a kid I was crazy about Dick Tracy. Yes, I was a nerdy little sprout. I even had a Bonnie Braids doll, as well as a Sparkle Plenty doll. This all dates me age-wise, I know. But I can remember playing out in the back yard, talking to my wrist, pretending there was a two-way wrist radio on it. The two-way wrist radio was a very big part of my infatuation with the square jawed-hero. I got to thinking about him recently when everybody on Facebook changed profile pics to cartoon characters to call attention to abuse against children. My choice was easy to make. I just did a little searching and discovered there is a Chester Gould/Dick Tracy Museum: http://www.dicktracymuseum.com/  Also, the comic strip lives on, it seems, though not in my paper. Here is a recent article about the future of Dick Tracy: http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20110124/NEWS01/101240311/A-dream-come-true-New-writer-artist-for-Dick-Tracy-comic-are-West-Tennesseans

Now I am noticing that people are starting to change back to previous or new profile shots and I probably will do the same before long, though reluctantly. Good old Dick explains a little about why I am a gadget freak today. It started back in my own big backyard. And now...look at me! I have the equivalent of the two-way wrist radio with my iPhone! I also have an iPad and a Kindle, a netbook, and a lovely MacBookPro. Life is good.