Cell phone use in classrooms is slowly evolving

Link to January 7 Reading Today post.

Excerpt:
New educational uses of cell phones are challenging the "turned off and out of sight" rules that many districts have adopted for student cell phones on campus.

A growing number of teachers, carefully navigating district policies and addressing their own concerns, are having students use their personal cell phones to make podcasts, take field notes, and organize their schedules and homework.

Top 10 Manga for 2008

Link to January 5 Publishers Weekly post.

Excerpt:

If there’s one word to sum up the past year, it would be “stealth.” Despite the slowdown in manga’s growth, the restructuring at TokyoPop and Yen Press, lay-offs at Borders, and the persistent rumors of Kodansha’s entry into the market, 2008 was an incredible year for manga.

Collection Development Suggestion

Link to January 5 Variety post, "Classic scores given new life on disc".

Excerpt:
It used to be impossible to find the film music of Max Steiner, Erich Wolfgang Korngold or Bernard Herrmann on records. The soundtrack business didn't exist until the late 1950s, so most of their classic scores -- even some of their Oscar-winning ones -- were never issued on disc.

That's all changed now, thanks to three enterprising San Fernando Valley musicians who have spent the last 15 years finding, restoring and rerecording dozens of classic scores -- everything from "Cat People" to "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" -- for major labels like Naxos and RCA/BMG.

Tribute Film Classics.

A great movie soundtrack, such as Vertigo, can stand on its own merits. Lucky for us, though, that it sets a perfect mood for one of Alfred Hitchcock's best films.

Five running for state schools chief

Link to January 5 Capital times article.

Online video viewing jumps 34 percent

Although I'm not sure how much the video below has to do with it.

Link to January 5 cnet news post.

Link to YouTube Librarian (Hawaii Library Association 2007 presentation)

New Year's Resolution: Gain Weight

Link to January 4 New York Times article, "Prominent Magazines Lose Weight, Shedding Nearly Half Their Ads".

For those in the magazine business, a weight loss is not pretty.

Here are some January 2008-January 2009 ad pages comparisons for Conde Nast titles.
Wired (down 47%)
Architectural Digest (down 46%)
Vogue (down 44%)
Lucky (down 44%)

The average decline for all monthly magazines was 17%.

The Dollar Store

Link to orbitbooks.net

Link to a book review written on my 59th birthday -- whatever significance that may have.

Now That I'm Retired, Of Course

Link.

Now in the Public Domain

Link to January 1 publicdomain weblog post.

Katie Couric Notebook: Libraries (12/30/2008)

Watch CBS Videos Online

Americans are saving money, and keeping the looming recession at bay, by going to their local libraries to rent books, CD's, and DVD's. Katie Couric reports. (Summary cut-and-pasted from CBS News Vidos website. Note the incorrect verb.)

To her credit, Couric uses the word "borrowing" twice, with emphasis, at the beginning of her report. She never says "rent".

Google Hopes to Open a Trove of Little-Seen Books

Link to January 4 New York Times article.

Excerpt:
Ever since Google began scanning printed books four years ago, scholars and others with specialized interests have been able to tap a trove of information that had been locked away on the dusty shelves of libraries and in antiquarian bookstores.

According to Dan Clancy, the engineering director for Google book search, every month users view at least 10 pages of more than half of the one million out-of-copyright books that Google has scanned into its servers.

Fork in the Road for Blu-ray?

Link to January 5 New York Times article, "Blu-ray’s Fuzzy Future".

Direction #1 (the nay-sayers). “The Blu-ray format is in jeopardy simply because the advent of downloadable HD movies is so close,” said Roger L. Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates. a research and consulting company. “Streaming video from the Internet and other means of direct digital delivery are going to put optical formats out of business entirely over the next few years.”

Direction #2 (the supporters). Blu-ray’s supporters have another view. They say the technology had a breakout year, crowned by the holiday success of “The Dark Knight,” which sold 600,000 Blu-ray copies in one day. They also say that Blu-ray players are selling faster than DVD players did at a comparable time in their emergence.

What's your take?

Library use up with economy drop

Link to January 4 Racine Journal Times article.

Excerpt:
RACINE — As the economy worsens, library use goes up.At least that’s how it looks to Jessica MacPhail, director of the Racine Public Library.“We’ve always been busy, but we noticed an increase, especially in August, September and October,” MacPhail said. “I’m relating it directly to the economy. Why pay for a book at Barnes and Noble when I can get it free? Why pay for a DVD at Blockbuster when I can get it for free?”Circulation at the Racine Public Library is up, though the library does not have official numbers for 2008.

“I know it’s tied directly to the economy,” said MacPhail, who since 1976 also has served as a librarian in Illinois, North Carolina and Ohio. “I’ve been around long enough to see it. Every time there’s a dip in the economic cycle, people turn to us.”Racine isn’t alone. Other communities throughout the state and country appear to be showing the same kind of cycle.

Sheboygan now open for virtual tours

View Larger Map

Link to January 5 Sheboygan Press article.

Where is street view available?

More residents check out library to save money

Rockford (IL) Public Library

Link to January 3 Rockford Register Star article.

Excerpt:

James is among the many Rock River Valley residents leaning on their local public libraries while money is tight at home. Library patrons are saving hundreds of dollars on high-speed Internet, printer ink cartridges and movie rentals by using their local library.

“I need this library. I need this computer,” said James, a former legal aide, who discontinued her home Internet service after losing her full-time job in mid-November. “I work some nights, but I need something more dependable. There just isn’t much out there.”

Library usage is up throughout the region, say Rock River Valley librarians. More people are walking through library doors this year, more library materials are circulating among cardholders, computer usage is experiencing a bump, and more people are attending library programs.

The More Things Change....

Link to December 30 "College on the Record" post, "73.4 Percent of All Wikipedia Edits Are Made By Roughly 1,400 People".

The next time you're in the vicinity of a library reference collection, take a look at the long list of names of editors and contributors to World Book, Encyclopedia Americana, or Encyclopedia Britannica.

Freshman legislators temper goals with budget realities

Link to January 2 Eau Claire Leader-Telegram article.

Excerpt:
Newly elected state legislators often head to Madison with big dreams of all they can accomplish - and spend - for their districts.

But things are a little different for the freshman class of 2009.
Sure, the three representatives-elect from west-central Wisconsin still believe they will be able help their constituents, but they recognize that filling the state's $5.4 billion budget hole will dominate the agenda.

The Democratic trio - Kristen Dexter of Eau Claire, Chris Danou of Trempealeau and Mark Radcliffe of Black River Falls - has gone through orientation programs for new Assembly members and hopes to hit the ground running after inauguration ceremonies on Monday.

Which melting products are most effective, least harmful?

Link to January 3 Janesville Gazette post.

Celebrating Braille

Link to January 2 Wisconsin State Journal article.

Excerpt:
It is Braille's genius that will be remembered at the Braille Birthday Party, hosted by the Wisconsin Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired (WCB) on Wednesday. The celebration, open to the public, will include reading demonstrations, French refreshments (in honor of Braille's nationality) and informative talks with national and state advocates for literacy issues that the visually impaired face.

IF YOU GO
What: Braille's Birthday Party
When: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday (January 7)
Where: Wisconsin Council of the Blind and Visually Impaired, 754 Williamson St., Madison
Admission: Free
Information: www.wcblind.org

Crandon Public Library to extend hours

Link to January 2 Rhinelander Daily News article.

Nice to see an expanding rather than a contracting schedule of hours.

Stewart hired to lead Manitowoc library

Link to January 3 Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter article.

Excerpt:

Cherilyn Stewart has been named director of the Manitowoc Public Library by its Board of Trustees, the library announced Friday.

Stewart begins work here Feb. 2. She replaces Patty Wanninger, who was hired as library director Feb. 11 and terminated four months later with the explanation she wasn't "a good fit" with the library's Board of Trustees. In the interim, former library system coordinator Carol Gibson has been fulfilling the director's duties.

Stewart comes to Manitowoc from the Chicago Public Library, where she has been serving as branch manager of Logan Square on the city's north side. She has directed daily operations there for the past five years, serving a community of 85,000 people.

The Top 500 Worst Passwords of All Time

Link to January 2 boing boing post.

And "password" is not #1.

Fifth Candidate Announces for State Superintendent of Public Instruction

Green Party member Todd Price running for Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction (from Austin Cassidy's Independent Political Report)

Todd Price Running for Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction (from the Green Party Watch)

A Hurricane Katrina Aimed at Public Education: Renewing No Child Left Behind? by Todd Alan Price

Todd's contributions to fightingbob.com

SCORECARD:
The other announced candidates:
Tony Evers, Department of Public Instruction Deputy Secretary.
Van Mobley, Concordia University professor
Rose Fernandez, president of the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families.
Lowell Holtz, Beloit Schools Superintendent.

Library Shelves Grieve, But Breathe Easier

Prolific author Donald Westlake dies at 75. Published more than 100 books, all on a manual typewriter.

Westlake's official website.

As the economy goes down, traffic at the library goes up

Link to January 1 Wisconsin State Journal article.

Includes quotes from Tracy Herold, Sun Prairie Public Library Director; Phyllis Davis, South Central Library System Director; Tana Elias, Web Resources Coordinator at the Madison Public Library, Bryan McCormack, Hedberg Public Library Director (Janesville); David Weinhold, Eastern Shores Library System Director; Jessica MacPhail, Racine Public Library Director

Album sales continue to slide in '08

Link to January 1 Variety post.

The downlow:

1. Sales of albums, CDs and downloads combined, totaled 428.4 million, down 14% from 2007.

2. As a point of comparison, 618.9 million albums were sold in 2005.

3. Sales of digital tracks increased by 27% to 1.07 billion. Downloads comprised 32% of all music purchases.

4. Sales of vinyl album nearly doubled to 1.88 million. (Call it a "bubbling under the hot 100" phenomenon.)