Week 5 Wikis

VIVA has been using a wiki page for a few years now. Members can provide information about their Interlibrary Loan service and post presentations in this medium. In order to edit a wiki you have to have access to the workspace. It's a fluid document that can change as needed.

Subject guides through a wiki would be very useful. Because the wiki can be edited easily, it can be kept up to date as new resources are acquired or deleted.

Week 3 Social Networking

Actually, I'm way beyond the 3rd week in a program called 23 Things for VCCS Libraries. However to comply with the program, I will write some of my thoughts on the various social networks that I have tried. My apologies to any followers who are not following the program.

Facebook is very handy for keeping in touch with friends and privacy settings can be set very easily. It is so generally available and used, that it is a good site to use to promote your library and to look for other libraries. Twitter is also a way to announce activities as they are happening. Both of these sites need to be monitored regularly to be effective.

LinkedIn seems to be a good way to keep track of colleagues. It doesn't seem to provide very much privacy, so you might want to be selective as to what information you put on this site. In addition to LinkedIn there is a similar service called Plaxo. LinkedIn seems to be the most popular.

All Social sites should be used carefully, since it can be assumed that comments made on any social networking site is not really private.

I'm having fun with Google Reader today and in exploring, I found a patriotic and poetic blog to share. Indeed, poetry is a fine way to communicate emotions in a romantic, passionate or funny bone way. What man or woman wouldn't want someone to write this of them:



Thou wast all that to me, love,
For which my soul did pine —
A green isle in the sea, love,
A fountain and a shrine,
All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,
And all the flowers were mine.



Alas, written by Edgar Allen Poe, the object of this verse had passed away. Better expressed when one is still with you.



Whitter stoked the fires of patriotic passion in his Barbara Fritchie.



Shoot if you must this old gray head,

But spare my country's flag she said.



OK, I admit it. I learned that in Virginia public schools. But the point is that Poetry can spur passions, whether it is melancholy, romantic or humorist. Try it yourself and feel the release.

Poems of the American Revolution

Poems of the American Revolution

April Musings

It's National Poetry month, and I bet you have some favorites. Sometimes, poetry can be found within novels, such as Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. You can find the book online, simply by googling the "title" with the term "ebook." Often the ebook is provided by the Guttenberg Project. (Books published before 1923 are often available online.) Select the ebook formats link and choose the format. A springtime verse within is one of my favorites, though it could be argued that it means nothing. Yes, I am speaking of "Jabberwocky." What can be more dreamy than the following verse:

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Or what can be more romantic than the description written by Edgar Allen Poe in "To One in Paradise."

Thou wast that all to me, love,
For which my soul did pine—
A green isle in the sea, love,
A fountain and a shrine,
All wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,
And all the flowers were mine.

Poetry can express emotions better than any other medium. Enjoy a poetry book today. It can make you laugh or cry. Write your own poem, and discover the emotional release and surprise of writing verse. See our College Muse (literary magazine) folder in Blackboard to see recent student efforts.

Books to Movies

I must admit that I have been reading some books lately, just because I wanted to read the book before the movie. I'm sure you know that books are nearly always better than the movie, because the imagination fills in the details so well! There is always so much more information, that you can learn from the author directly. I found Michael Crichton before any his novels became movies, but I nearly always enjoyed the books the most, because of his research. Movies don't have time to fill in the educational gaps, and if they try, it's often so skeletal.

So it was with Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, which led me to read his most recent book, "The Lost Symbol." This second book is a great tour guide of Washington, DC, but in some ways was a bit hard to swallow in plot. Both of these books were not only page turners, but brought in spirituality, the Catholic Church (Angels and Demons) and the Masons (Lost Symbol). For Library Lady, this is fine. However, if this is not your fancy, you may wish to skip them. I'm sure the Masons and the Catholic Church have come out with a statements about how Dan Brown misrepresented them. So remember these books are fiction. You may not be able to tell what is fact and what is fiction with this author.

Currently, I am reading "My Life in France" or the biography of Julia Child. I understand the movie is excellent. Haven't seen any of the movies yet for any of these books, but I know I will enjoy them, as they remind me of my reading experience. Bon Appetit.

The Library - To Be or Not to Be

Have you ever considered building your own personal library? This is a popular hobby with many people. In case the world gets a little too digital, you might consider having such a collection, just like you would have gallons of water about the house for emergencies.

Try labeling with the Dewey's classification system. This is very easy to master, if you know the numbers. Wikipedia's general divisions will help. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dewey_Decimal_classes .

Of course, most people devise their own system by author, by title, or by subject.

Do you want to laminate your paperbacks? See library supply catalogs. Don't think I should advertise, but ask your local librarian.

Just think of what the future would be like if there were no printed books. Ebooks disappear because of licenses or other concerns. Here today, gone tomorrow. What about Censorship? Wouldn't it be erase an ebook? Copyright conflicts? Terrorism? Power outages?

Oh and by the way, some of those personally purchased books might go up in value. Nothing like scarcity to increase value. So buying a print book is an investment in the future in more ways than one.

I think I have just made an argument for libraries to continue to purchase and preserve the printed book.




Admit it. Don't you often keep a paper copy of anything you think is important? Why would it be any different with literature? If the lights go out, you can light a candle and be like Abraham Lincoln. Who knows what the future will bring? Your home library - the last source for print? Only the very wealthy have books? Let's support traditional libraries as well as virtual ones. They are inseparable partners in Education.