August 2003 Archives

Via Techdirt. comes this article The Disunited States of the Internet, talking about the new Pew study that shows that regions of the U.S. use the Internet differently. Wisconsin is included in the Upper Midwest area, where the usage is the same as the national average of 59%. "In the Upper Midwest (Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin), women were slightly more likely and men slightly less likely to be online than the national averages. Fewer users there logged on “just for fun” than elsewhere."

I think this all helps to explain why our Internet terminals at the library just continue to get busier and busier. Our classes for beginners, on the other hand, are not needed as much anymore.

RedNova

Space, science, and technology news with space images and tonight's night sky.

Technical Schools USA

Technical careers, programs, school locations, certifications, and more.

Appliance411

Appliance purchasing, service, repair and forums.

Low Carb Diet Recipes Collection

Recipes for those following a low carb and high protein diet.

Gomath

Free online math tutoring for K-12 students where their questions will be answered, math games can be played, and step-by-step solutions are provided.

RemodelingAdvice.com

This site offers advice and guidance for home remodeling. Sections include buyer's guide, expert advice, FAQs, and business ratings.

GetNetWise

Information on online safety, including keeping children safe online, stopping spam, protecting yourself from hackers and viruses, and keeping your personal information private.

Resource Discovery Network

Woo hoo! I love finding new directories of quality sites! This British site is a collaboration of more than 70 educational and research organizations, providing specialist-selected sites on specific subjects.

Via Techdirt, comes a really wonderful new email service! Mailinator is an instant email account that doesn't require registration ahead of time, has no password and expires after a few hours. Sound useless? Not at all! This means that at those sites that are asking for your email address in order to get their content, you can provide a Mailinator disposable address.

Here at the library, we often have patrons who want access to sites that require registration with a valid email but they don't have an email. I plan to use Mailinator with them now. What a great solution!

DNA Interactive

This graphical site on DNA from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory requires Flash to work. It offers sections on news, a timeline, manipulation, genome, applications, and DNA code.

Kirkus Reviews

Somehow I missed the fact that Kirkus offers full text to featured reviews as well as to the starred reviews of the month.

Yard Doctor

This site offers regional information on mowing, grasses, fertilizing, watering, weeds, diseases, pests and a monthly calendar for recommended yard care.

Here are two sites that I am forever referring people to. I think that they should be on every Wisconsin librarian's Favorites list. Worse, they both have awful URLs to remember, so if they aren't on your Favorites they can be hard to find at a moment's notice.

First is the online version of the Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations, Administrative Code. Yes, we all have a paper copy, but this one is searchable and much easier to use, unless you know what chapter you are looking for.

Second is the very popular Wisconsin Circuit Court Access that allows everyone to check up on their neighbors and their daughter's boyfriends. This is one of the most requested sites that we have here in Green Lake.

Another via Kennebunk Library Weblog that I had missed.
Bookselling This Week: The September/October 2003 Book Sense 76 is a list of recommended books from independent book sellers across the country. I really appreciate the list of recommended titles coming out in paperback, since I tend to miss those in my other sources.

Via Kennebunk Library Weblog comes
DigitalBookIndex, a site that offers 25,000 online books at no charge. A great addition to my list of free e-book sites.

Open Source Goes Mainstream

I am a real believer in open source products and the open source movement. This article from Library Journal will give anyone a good look at open source options for libraries as well as places to stay informed.

Via Library Link of the Day comes Libraries blamed for their own decline. This article from the British The Guardian announces the results of a recent report on the state of British libraries and what they need to change.

It appears that changing from a less traditional book-lending role into more of a community center is what is recommended. This is what the library I direct is becoming. We have a fireplace, casual seating, board games, Internet access, a computer and games for the kids, etc. People comment all the time about the "feel" of our library. It is definitely something that we are very proud of and very aware of.

Wireless Internet has helped a lot with that feeling, because people can take laptops throughout the library. Parents can be near their children, others can be in the casual seating area, and friends can share a laptop at a large table.

SciFan

A site for the science fiction fan filled with links and books, including current and future releases, books sorted by theme, and information on authors and series.

Special Issues - Gary Price's List of Lists

This huge collection of links to lists from a variety of sources offers quick access to detailed information.

I have added several links to my collection of publishers' sites.

Anchor Books
Ballantine Books
Harry N. Abrams
Hyperion Books
Knopf
St. Martin's Press

Maths Thesaurus

From the University of Cambridges comes definitions of math terms along with links to similar terms and discussions from an archived web board.

National Museum of African Art

This museum in the Smithsonian Institution offers several online collections.

Why I love RSS feeds! My email is down, but I don't feel very disconnected at all. Looks like the email server will be down until Wednesday at least. We will just hope that the emails are being stored rather than bouncing.

BBC NEWS -- Amis and Atwood lead Booker list

Read about some of the finalists in the article, or scroll to the bottom to get the list itself.

ALA -- Library Privacy Policy

New guidelines from ALA for drafting a privacy policy for your library. Information for all types of libraries: academic, public and school.

Via Suburban Library System.

I only have two more computers to patch for MS Blast, having spent basically the last two days patching at work. Patch and Pray is an article about the two schools of thought concerning patching. To patch or not to patch, that is the question.

Via Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment.

LearningTimes Library Online Conference

What a great idea, a completely online conference! It should be especially helpful for those of us in tiny libraries. We can't afford ALA travel usually, but still want cutting-edge information. You have until September 12th to get 25% of the registration fee.

Linksgiving is a site that has a weekly link award, requests submissions for what sites you consider are best for specific topics, and much more. It is definitely a site that I will be using to find additions to my List of Links.

ReadyWeb

A collection of resources on school readiness sponsored by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Childhood Education with information for both parents and educators.

"I will be heard!" - Abolitionism in America

Cornell University presents this site looking at the history of the abolishment of slavery, from its origins to Uncle Tom's Cabin.

A big thank you to Greg of Open Stacks fame, for telling me that the slides from my blogging presentation are available on the WILSWorld site now. Click on this link and you will find my presentation listed at 11:15. Clicking on session slides will download them.

Degree Info

Search over 300 distance learning programs by entering the degree level and field of study. The site also includes articles about distance learning, discussion boards and featured schools.

I have a new blog I started last week that is all about children's books. It will include book reviews, related sites, articles and news. So far it has been a lot of fun!

Kids Lit

TechNewsWorld

Breaking technology news from a variety of sources that covers hardware, software, wireless, networks, open source, and security.

RSSJobs

This has been posted all over, but is definitely worth repeating. Get job search information delivered to your feedreader from some of the biggest job sites on the Net. Very cool, very useful, and a very clever use of RSS.

Google News Alerts is a news beta service that sends you email on news items that match your keyword search.

Via ResourceShelf.

Struggling to Learn is a new site from PBS for parents of children with learning disabilities.

Library Link of the Day is a great blog to read, since it only posts one link each day, but always a great and timely one. Their link for today is
The old bookshop's new site, which lists some of the top used book sites online. I regularly use these with patrons looking for out of print titles and have never failed to find several options for them to consider. Best of all, most of the individual stores listed are brick and mortar, meaning that the patrons skittish of putting credit card information online can call the shop itself and do business by phone.

Opinion-Pages

Search engine for current editorials and columns from more than 600 English newspapers and magazines from around the world.

Via Library Stuff comes a link to this WebJunction article on why librarians should have blogs. C'mon give it a try!

Feingold Introduces Legislation to Protect Personal Information

This is a link to his press release on legislation Feingold released yesterday to fix the Patriot Act and limit government access to library records in particular.

Suburban Library System blog posts that there is a new Yahoo Group (email list) that is designed for librarians dealing with CIPA. You do not need to have a Yahoo email address to get Yahoo Groups, and the signup process is pretty painless, if you aren't a member already. Yahoo has a lot of other great email lists on a wide variety of subjects.

LIS Blogsource

Trying to find new and interesting library blogs? Try this blog about library blogs. I've added it to my feedreader!

Science News for Kids

Science news and article for kids and teachers. This site also offers recommended websites and an archive of past articles.