SLA's 23 Thing Updated

Since 2088, SLA's 23 Things  has been quite popular with school librarians -- a 10-week approach to learning Web 2.0 at your own pace.  Some of the topics covered are blogging, tagging, photos, newsreaders, social media and more.  The 'Social Media and Networking' section includes articles and instructional videos. Along with the addition of social media, outdated and broken links were removed and new resources and tools added.

I may cover these 23 Things again.

An interesting article about book buying habits found that of  3,819 respondents (18 ages and above)  44.7% prefer libraries as a book source; women prefer libraries over men.  Also "men buy 5 books a year, women 6, average books borrowed each year is 5; 2009 3% owned ereader in 2010 8% owned ereader; 40% said are unlikely to buy an ereader; ability to pass along ebooks is important to 30% of ereader owners." The "average person bought 2 ebooks a year and 6% purchased 13% or more ebooks per year; 23% prefer dedicated ereader, 18% laptop desktop computer, 8% mobile device and tablet 8%; seems be a hybrid market as 30% of ereaders owners buy 13 or more print books a year and 23% of ereaders purchase 13 or more ebooks per year; 80% of ereader owners said would purchase ebooks from local indie if they had competitive pricing."

For more study results, go to Digital Book World.

Borders - list of closings

Sad that Borders is experiencing financial problems.  I suppose I have helped contribute to their bankruptcy by buying books from Amazon and purchasing a Kindle.  But I do support my local Borders store by getting books and gift cards sthere,  and I am glad to hear that it is not on the list of stores that will be closed.  


Here is a link the list of closing stores.  

'to read' shelf

This 3-day weekend found me doing a little cleaning.  I thought I should clean up my home library -- tidy up the stacks of papers (so I can see the wood of my desk), shelve books (so I vacuum the carpet where the stacks of books have been for a lonnggg time), and maybe even weed a few books (so I can shelve those books -- OMG!), 

Well, I designated one shelf just for those books that I have not read, but plan to read.  I soon realized some of these books have been around for ages.  Should they go in the 'reconsideration' stack so I can consider reading them for another year or should I make the final decision?  another OMG!  moment.  

My 'to read' shelves (two) now hold 76 print books and 3 audio books.  Plus, I have at least 15 on my Kindle waiting for me.  I moved one from 'to read' to the another shelf because I had listened to the audio book which I borrowed from my local public library. 

I am happy and sad to say I did not discard one book.  I may have to put another bookcase in the guest room....

Libraries (quote)

Libraries: The medicine chest of the soul  
 (Library at Thebes, inscription over the door)

BIG Book

Wow!  Now this is a BIG book!   The University of Iowa Libraries has a new book in its collection -- a 100-volume, 10,000-page, 2-feet-thick book of poetry:   Poetry City Marathon.

Book Seat

Looking for an unusual chair?  This is it:  Book seat

Bumperstickers

Having a bit of time on his hands, Phil Bradley came up with some great library bumperstickers:


Libraries; More logical than Mr Spock. Libraries; more medical information that Dr McCoy. Libraries; beam you to many different places.


Libraries; more mysteries than Christie. Libraries; more westerns than Eastwood. Libraries; more thrillers than Hitchcock.

Lately I have seen many blog posts and newspaper articles about ebook lending libraries.  I'm compiling a list of these ebook sources, but in the meantime, here is a link to a blog post on Free Technology for Teachers for free ebooks.

Wikipedia, again

There is a really interesting article in the Chronicle Review, Wikipedia Comes of Age.  Wikipedia has come a long way from its start ten years ago.

 " 'As Wikipedia has grown, it has become increasingly clear that it functions as a necessary layer in the Internet knowledge system, a layer that was not needed in the analog age. A study carried out by Alison Head and Michael Eisenberg, published in a March 2010 edition of the Web journal First Monday, surveyed university students about their research habits and, in particular, how they begin research projects. Most of the nearly 2,500 students who responded said they consult Wikipedia, but when questioned more deeply, it became clear that they use it for, as one student put it, "pre-research.' In other words, to gain context on a topic, to orient themselves, students start with Wikipedia."

Librarians are Awesome

Those of you who watched Star Trek: The Next Generation and remember the character, Wesley Crusher, and  those you didn't watch the show, will appreciate Wil Wheaton's blog comments:

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2011/01/librarians-are-awesome.html

Amazon Kindle ebooks sales

Amazon.com has sold more Kindle ebooks than paperbacks in the last year.  


The Amazon press release stated:  "Since the beginning of the year, for every 100 paperback books Amazon has sold, the Company has sold 115 Kindle books." 
"Additionally, during this same time period the Company has sold three times as many Kindle books as hardcover books."
"The U.S. Kindle Store now has more than 810,000 books including New Releases and 107 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers. Over 670,000 of these books are $9.99 or less, including 74 New York Times Bestsellers. Millions of free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are also available to read on Kindle."