This link does not come from my bookmark bank. Instead it is one shared today by Sybel Finemel via LM_NET listserv for school librarians. She has been sharing links for years, including contributions to Librarians' Internet Index and Virtual Reference Desk. These days you can find her at Question Point: http://wiki.questionpoint.org/w/page/13839450/Global-Knowledge-Base-Editors
While you are at this location, take time to peruse the many resources at this information-filled wiki.
Abbreviation Index is just what it says, a repository of abbreviations and what they stand for. It also has a section for social network lingo, which they call "Wannas." You can search for a given abbreviation or browse by subject. Of course you can! It's an index, right? Here is my favorite section...check it out!
Friday, January 7, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Link O'Day: Phil Bradley's Website
I went to my very oldest link tagged REVISIT to see what was there. I started using this tag back in April, 2007. Mr. Bradley bills himself as an "electronic publishing consultant." When I saw that he was a consultant, I was not sure I wanted to feature him because, frankly, there a lot of great consultants out there and we as librarians are consultants ourselves. BUT he has some great information, available FOR FREE. His list of search engines alone, linked from his main page, is worth a visit. He lists over 150 and has brief annotations for each. He also writes about Twitter, and Web 2.0 applications. I am very glad I revisited his site, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in Internet searching and/or Web 2.0. Here is the address: http://www.philb.com/
Give Phil a visit! You can say I sent you.
Give Phil a visit! You can say I sent you.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Kicking Off Site O'Day (Sorta): Internet Archive!!!
Here goes my first short Site O'Day entry, which is in fulfillment of my 2011 New Year Resolution to blog "almost" every day. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I have a ton of unruly and disorganized bookmarks at my Delicious site:
One of my tags is SHARE and another is REVISIT. I use these when I come across a site I want to share with students or return to for a closer look. Alas, I seldom if ever have been revisiting, and my sharing is not much better though I do recommend to my MLS students. So I thought it would be fun to go back and visit my very first site to be tagged with SHARE. I wondered if it would be something that still had value, or for that matter if it would still be up and going. Well, I am patting myself on the back. My first site to share is Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org/)!
I could not have picked a better choice! Here is the self description offered at the site, which explains it better than I am able:
"The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library. Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format. Founded in 1996 and located in San Francisco, the Archive has been receiving data donations from Alexa Internet and others. In late 1999, the organization started to grow to include more well-rounded collections. Now the Internet Archive includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages in our collections, and provides specialized services for adaptive reading and information access for the blind and other persons with disabilities."
How would I describe it? As a huge repository of....wonderful stuff! I gave it a whirl but trying several searches:
One of my tags is SHARE and another is REVISIT. I use these when I come across a site I want to share with students or return to for a closer look. Alas, I seldom if ever have been revisiting, and my sharing is not much better though I do recommend to my MLS students. So I thought it would be fun to go back and visit my very first site to be tagged with SHARE. I wondered if it would be something that still had value, or for that matter if it would still be up and going. Well, I am patting myself on the back. My first site to share is Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org/)!
I could not have picked a better choice! Here is the self description offered at the site, which explains it better than I am able:
"The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library. Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format. Founded in 1996 and located in San Francisco, the Archive has been receiving data donations from Alexa Internet and others. In late 1999, the organization started to grow to include more well-rounded collections. Now the Internet Archive includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages in our collections, and provides specialized services for adaptive reading and information access for the blind and other persons with disabilities."
How would I describe it? As a huge repository of....wonderful stuff! I gave it a whirl but trying several searches:
- I searched the Music Archives for "Luckenbach" since I have been having a great time hanging out there recently. Yep, there were performances, including one by Corb Lund. I am a fan so this was a nice treat. There were 15 songs recorded on my last birthday! I am presently enjoying "Big Butch Bass Bull Fiddle." I cannot wait to hear "Devil's Best Dress" and others.
- Next I went over to Video Archives and was struck by the title "The Days of Sexy Cigarettes." Since I am old enough to remember the TV commercials for cigarettes, I went to the link and viewed a funny/sad ad featuring Luci and Desi plugging Philip Morris.
- Next I was drawn to a link called which led me to The Beat Within which features creations by youngsters in the system who are or have been behind bars. Compelling stuff that could well be shared with other teens.
- Below you will see listings of all the links at this large and important collection. Click on any one to go to that section!
- Animation & Cartoons | Arts & Music | Community Video | Computers & Technology | Cultural & Academic Films | Ephemeral Films | Movies | News & Public Affairs | Prelinger Archives | Spirituality & Religion | Sports Videos | Videogame Videos | Vlogs | Youth Media
Sunday, January 2, 2011
My New Year's Blogolution
I started this little blog because of a New Year's Resolution in January 2007. Since then one of my resolutions has always been to continue/improve my activity both in quantity and quality of postings. This year was the slowest on record, so much though that I started considering closing shop. But I do not want to do that. I don't like the idea of being a quitter.
So onward and upward! As is frequently the case, I am inspired by my colleague and one of my heroes, Dr. Teri Lesesne. She reads at least one book a day and blogs about them. Well I am NOT gonna try to match that! First, it is not in my job description since I teach technology rather than literature classes in our program and also toil on as department chair. Thus I have not the time or the reason, much less the chutzpah to try to compete with Professor Nana, whose blog you can find here: http://professornana.livejournal.com/
However I have another way to try to inspire myself on a regular basis, by sharing websites. I am still using Delicious despite the exaggerated reports of its death about a month ago. I just went over to my page where my hodgepodge of sites can be found: http://www.delicious.com/drmaryannbell
They are a wild and unruly bunch with a total number of over 1200. Two of my tags are there to help me and/or my students: SHARE and REVISIT. These tags are reserved for really interesting/nifty/fun/useful sites that I want to be sure I don't forget. Obviously these are to remind me to do as directed but I must confess that I cannot recall every revisiting a single one of the sites bearing that tag. Surely I have.......?
Anyway here's my plan: I am going to share a link with a brief description as many days as I can. Will it be every day? I would like to think so and I certainly have enough bookmarks, but I am not too interested in installing a Sword of Damocles over my head by vowing to do ANYTHING daily. I have enough things hanging by a thread in my life as it is.
To kick things off, I am sharing a site that I have used for several years as a reminder service. 43 Things exists to help people succeed with goal-setting. A user can post a goal or resolution, report progress, and send messages to himself and to others. For the past several years I had a weekly email reminder that was called "Get it right with Dad." The reason for this was because I recognized I had a unique opportunity to be there with and for my dad in his last years. Because I tend to get immersed in daily obligations, many of which are relatively trivial, I wanted a way to keep Dad in the forefront of my mind. Seeing the message was a prompt for me to give him a call or send him a card. I take a great deal of comfort in knowing I WAS there for Dad a respectable amount and that I could say good-bye without the regrets. Here is the URL for this site: http://www.43things.com/
HERE IS SOMETHING SUPER COOL: I just went over to 43 Things. I want to set up a goal and reminder to blog more as described above. Guess whose picture and goal are featured today? NANCY PEARL! Her New Year's Resolution posted there is (not surprisingly) TAKE TIME TO READ! Others can adopt any resolution as their own and I intend to do so with this one. I don't know how long her goal will be featured, but if you go there today it will show as the top item. Since Nancy Pearl is another hero of mine, and her action figure is my constant running buddy, I take this as a positive omen. You can subscribe to any goal that is posted and join others with that same target. The temptation is great to subscribe to goals right and left, because there are lots of good ones there, but I am resisting. That sounds like a recipe for failure for me.
In closing, give 43 Things a try if you have something to which you want to remain dedicated for any amount of time. It helped me!
So onward and upward! As is frequently the case, I am inspired by my colleague and one of my heroes, Dr. Teri Lesesne. She reads at least one book a day and blogs about them. Well I am NOT gonna try to match that! First, it is not in my job description since I teach technology rather than literature classes in our program and also toil on as department chair. Thus I have not the time or the reason, much less the chutzpah to try to compete with Professor Nana, whose blog you can find here: http://professornana.livejournal.com/
However I have another way to try to inspire myself on a regular basis, by sharing websites. I am still using Delicious despite the exaggerated reports of its death about a month ago. I just went over to my page where my hodgepodge of sites can be found: http://www.delicious.com/drmaryannbell
They are a wild and unruly bunch with a total number of over 1200. Two of my tags are there to help me and/or my students: SHARE and REVISIT. These tags are reserved for really interesting/nifty/fun/useful sites that I want to be sure I don't forget. Obviously these are to remind me to do as directed but I must confess that I cannot recall every revisiting a single one of the sites bearing that tag. Surely I have.......?
Anyway here's my plan: I am going to share a link with a brief description as many days as I can. Will it be every day? I would like to think so and I certainly have enough bookmarks, but I am not too interested in installing a Sword of Damocles over my head by vowing to do ANYTHING daily. I have enough things hanging by a thread in my life as it is.
To kick things off, I am sharing a site that I have used for several years as a reminder service. 43 Things exists to help people succeed with goal-setting. A user can post a goal or resolution, report progress, and send messages to himself and to others. For the past several years I had a weekly email reminder that was called "Get it right with Dad." The reason for this was because I recognized I had a unique opportunity to be there with and for my dad in his last years. Because I tend to get immersed in daily obligations, many of which are relatively trivial, I wanted a way to keep Dad in the forefront of my mind. Seeing the message was a prompt for me to give him a call or send him a card. I take a great deal of comfort in knowing I WAS there for Dad a respectable amount and that I could say good-bye without the regrets. Here is the URL for this site: http://www.43things.com/
HERE IS SOMETHING SUPER COOL: I just went over to 43 Things. I want to set up a goal and reminder to blog more as described above. Guess whose picture and goal are featured today? NANCY PEARL! Her New Year's Resolution posted there is (not surprisingly) TAKE TIME TO READ! Others can adopt any resolution as their own and I intend to do so with this one. I don't know how long her goal will be featured, but if you go there today it will show as the top item. Since Nancy Pearl is another hero of mine, and her action figure is my constant running buddy, I take this as a positive omen. You can subscribe to any goal that is posted and join others with that same target. The temptation is great to subscribe to goals right and left, because there are lots of good ones there, but I am resisting. That sounds like a recipe for failure for me.
In closing, give 43 Things a try if you have something to which you want to remain dedicated for any amount of time. It helped me!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Song for Zeb
I cannot return to business as usual with my blog or with other things that make up the fabric of my life, without sharing a tribute to my dad, Zeb Fitzgerald. The problem is that I fail when I try to come up with words to say about him. He lived 98 years, almost all of them in San Marcos, TX. During his years he was very active in local and area politics, civic activities, and church life. If there was ever anybody that did not like my dad, I don't know who that might be. He was universally loved and respected. As his old friend Rev. Jack Byrom said, "If there was ever an issue upon which people were taking sides, I knew I could count on Zeb to come down on the right side." My brother and I know we are tremendously blessed to have him for a father and for grandfather to our children. I will miss him for the rest of my life.
Since my words are inadequate, I am borrowing some from my singer-songwriter daughter Emily Herring. Here is the refrain from her song written about him.
"There are men, and then there is this man,
There are lives, and there's a hundred years.
A man pulled up by his boot straps
With a heart to be revered.
So let's all sing Peace in the Valley
And hope that life goes on beyond
Take heart in the gift of knowing him
To remember as we go on."
Emily got to one point in writing and could not figure out what should go next. In a first and very likely last time to do so, I contributed a line to one of her songs. My words are in the last two lines above. We think they are the heart of the song, and I guess a fitting close for this tribute.
Since my words are inadequate, I am borrowing some from my singer-songwriter daughter Emily Herring. Here is the refrain from her song written about him.
"There are men, and then there is this man,
There are lives, and there's a hundred years.
A man pulled up by his boot straps
With a heart to be revered.
So let's all sing Peace in the Valley
And hope that life goes on beyond
Take heart in the gift of knowing him
To remember as we go on."
Emily got to one point in writing and could not figure out what should go next. In a first and very likely last time to do so, I contributed a line to one of her songs. My words are in the last two lines above. We think they are the heart of the song, and I guess a fitting close for this tribute.
FIE on YOU 2010!
I cannot resist thumbing my nose at you, Old Retired Guy 2010! Why I got picked to have a Joe Btfstik kind of a year I cannot fathom. But you know what? I am still here! I am looking forward to a great 2011! Just for posterity, here are some of the things you brought me, you wrinkled old bag of days:
- Death of my dear old friend, best dog ever, and first dog to be really mine. I still miss you Ringo,
- Bad mammogram in January
- Cancer Diagnosis in February
- Surgery in March
- Radiation through June
- Dad's heart attack on first day of Summer II classes
- Dad's decline from then until...
- Dad's death on December 11
- Things flung from the sky at me including three large limbs and one entire tree.
- Squashing of my carport by said tree.
- Breaking out rear window of my new car, Wanda Honda by backing into a dumpster. My bad.
- Poor Wanda then getting run into by a truck--twice.The same truck hit her once and the driver got out to apologize, leaving truck in gear to roll back and hit her again! Driver's lame excuse..."I just had my eyes dilated and can't see a thing!" Very funny 2010.
- Dinging front Wanda's front windshield days later. I now think I can feel Wanda shudder every time I put my key in the ignition.
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