"Why Johnny can't search" American Libraries column/Joseph James/UW

When you are feeling a little like the Information Competency/Information Literacy discussion has gotten stale, take a look at the article by Joseph James in the January issue of American Libraries.
http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/inetlibrarian/internetlibrarian.cfm

Here is an excerpt: "Students were asked to evaluate these faux websites based on objectivity, authority, and timeliness (only 49% could pick the one site that met all those criteria), to narrow an overly broad search (which only 35% could do), and select a research statement for a class assignment (only 44% picked the one that captured the demands of the assignment)."

There is so much more we need to do! For the original assessment report, go to http://tinyurl.com/ekk46

The pressure to blog ! #$%#@, updating recent events...

Somedays, the novelty of blogging wears off as I move on through this cycle of my sabbatical leave. Yet, it is a great way to capture all the things I am doing. And in the age of information moving at lightspeed, especially in the social networking scene, it is overwhelming.

Lately, I have been working on my campus survey and thesaurus for the archives. Also keeping up with the Sirsi/Dynix Institutes like Learning 2.0: Make "play" your New Year's resolution "As the Nationwide insurance commercials taunt "life comes at you fast", it's time for librarians to jump into the knowledge pool of Web 2.0 technologies and discover how these tools are changing the way many library users communicate, collaborate and receive information. Helene Blowers, Technology Director for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County shares insights and best practices around the creation of Learning 2.0, an online self-discovery program designed to encourage staff to explore new technologies (blogs, wikis, podcasts etc.) and reward them for 'play.'

Then Dona Mitoma and I are visiting some colleges together. Dona is a Librarian, as many of you know, but she is the coordinator of the Reading Center at Pasadena City College. This week we went to Chaffey College and Riverside College. We visited with Frank Pinkerton at Chaffey and then went to the small Reading and Tutorial Center where the staff gave us a great overview of what they do. Then we trekked to Riverside College and took a tour of the new library. I had seen it before but wanted to visit again since it is a wonderful open architecture library and really gives a sense of the "digital library" as you walk in the door and view 180 computers in a commons area. Then we went to the Martin Luther King building which houses all the major computer labs in one building. We visited the Writing Center as well as the Reading Center and we were impressed with the extensive progrm there.

Today, more work on my thesaurus for the college archive. I also launched a beta of my campus survey so that I could test how Survey Monkey works to track respondents. Seems beautiful! I like it. Still no word from IMLS in spite of the fact that I call almost weekly. Hmmm... I may give up and put it in Survey Monkey however I wanted to play with this survey and mounting it on college's server.

Digital Oxygen: How "natives" behave when media and communications tools are ubiquitous. SirsiDynix Institute Seminar with Lee Rainie/Director, Pew

Rainie discusses the findings of the Pew Internet & American Life Project that explores "the behavior and expectations that result from living in a world that offers media and message delivery through so many different devices, in so many different ways.¨

Rainie traces the development of the digital native, describing the social impacts of the Internet and the web as well as the expansion of the web into Web 2.0. He defines a digital native as someone under 25 who has grown up with the advantages of ¡§connected resources.¡¨ They were born into a world where gaming and the personal computers were taking over the mainframe operations: WWW (1990), Palm (1996), Napster (1999)and now Podcasts, Blogs, Social networking sites, and video blogging (UTube).

He also discusses the 7 new realities in the life of digital natives and what they mean for them and for librarians:
1) Media and gadgets are an ubiquitous parts of everyday life¡KLee uses a great graphic to illustrate the change in Home media ecology and the interrelated nature of it all. What is really remarkable is how much it has changed in the last 4 months! Media is now ¡§consumed¡¨ by so many other ways than traditional radio and television (computers, laptops, IPODS, cell phones, etc.)
2) New gadgets allow them to enjoy media and take it with thm (77% of young adults have cell phones¡KNew features include texting, photography, games, Internet access, email, music, video clips, mobile maps, watch tv and video. Digital cameras now have moved more into the social perspective by including photos and share them online as part of story telling. 51% of teens own MP3 players.
3) The Internet is at the center of the revolution: dynamic changes in the use of the Internet and broadband access. Broadband users are very different users than dial-up users. Brought it into the rhythms of everyday life¡K
4) Different people use the Internet in different ways (slides illustrate the use by the young, Gen /Boomers, Seniors) Also draws comparisons of use by ethnic groups.
5) Multi-tasking is a way of life„³ Linda Stone calls it ¡§continuous partial attention.¡¨
6) Ordinary citizens have a chance to be publishers, moviemakers, artists, song creators and story tellers. They are now ¡§media creators.¡¨ The latest Pew study will look at the social issues of sharing more intimate (aka personal) information on their blogs.
7) Everything will change even more in the coming years. J-curve laws¡Kexpectations of the users of information will drive what happens.
More transparency and findable about institutions and individuals.
Relevant information independent/edited and commercial =¡§uber alles¡¨
Cluetrain manifesto: In a new interactive age, boundary between comsumer and producer breaks down. Expectations that one can interact with institutional information and media.