Portfolio

Here is the last assignment for LIS 2600!
http://www.pitt.edu/~cam148/portfolio_mellott.html

Dreamweaver

I am finally getting that somewhat relieved feeling that "I believe I am going to make it through this class"...with Dreamweaver's and my husband's help. Now if I could only get that song out of my head! It is quite a feeling of accomplishment to see all of the Assignments together in one place and what all I have learned, albeit kicking and screaming.

We had a hot weekend camping in the 90 degree weather but still had fun.

Borders New Concept Stores

Wow, this looks fabulous!
http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/borders/31761/

I went to a library program last night as part of my on-going professional development. www.twoofakind.com David and Jenny were excellent, creative and fun. Who knew there were so many fun songs about libraries and books!

Pitt Travels

Well it's hard to believe but I traveled my last trip to Pittsburgh this weekend as a graduate MLIS student. Our cohort ate breakfast at Pamela's in the strip district. We had a nice ceremony and lunch. Sure is tough to keep up the motivation now for the final three weeks but got to get that diploma! We had a gorgeous weekend and enjoyed eating at our favorite places like Lu Lu's and Primanti's. We visited the zoo and saw the 3 day old baby elephant named Angelina. We also hoofed it over to the Point Fountain. I have to agree that the on-campus experiences were an asset to the program as a fast track student. I even had my picture taken with the panther.
A new gizmo caught my eye when reading the paper:
http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2008/03/gps_ranger_does_sign_language.html

wikireadia

Here is a cool site that is not about books like so many others but the "art of reading, how to encourage and teach reading, and how to help people enjoy it."

http://www.yearofreading.org.uk/wikireadia/index.php?title=Main_Page

KOHA list of books

The school library and educational change.
Rossoff, Martin,
The media specialist, the microcomputer, and the curriculum /
Troutner, Joanne,
American library history :
Harris, Michael H.
More teen programs that work /

Teen book discussion groups @ the library /
Dickerson, Constance B.,
The Coretta Scott King Awards, 1970-2004 /

Building a children's literature collection.

Finding the right path :
Sutter, Lynne.
100% information literacy success /
Taylor, Terry.
Basic library skills /
Wolf, Carolyn E.,
101+ great ideas for teen library Web sites /
Doyle, Miranda,
Hot, hotter, hottest :

Connecting with reluctant teen readers :
Jones, Patrick,
The big book of teen reading lists :
Keane, Nancy J.
Popular series fiction for middle school and teen readers :
Thomas, Rebecca L.
Best new media, K-12 :
Barr, Catherine,
The Newbery/Printz companion :
Gillespie, John Thomas,
Excellence in library services to young adults :

Special events programs in school library media centers :
Trotta, Marcia.
Using educational technology with at-risk students :
Mendrinos, Roxanne.
Strategic planning for school library media centers /
Zilonis, Mary Frances,
School library management.

Creating cyber libraries :
Craver, Kathleen W.
Collection development for a new century in the school library media center /
Lukenbill, W. Bernard.
Using Internet primary sources to teach critical thinking skills in the sciences /
Johnson, Carolyn.

KOHA school library list

Here is the link to my KOHA list.
http://pitt1.kohawc.liblime.com/cgi-bin/koha/bookshelves/shelves.pl?viewshelf=67

shoe comic on information technology

http://www.gocomics.com/shoe/2008/06/29/

Future of Libraries Grocery Store or Kitchen?

“I think we’re going to be in the ideas business. Libraries will still have lots of things that look like we love,” observed consultant Joan Frye Williams, “but… it won’t be about the books and information as objects… and by the way, it’s not the ideas that are being offshored to Bangalore.” Beyond that, she said that libraries should be about relationships rather than transactions. (Hence her preferred term for library user: “member.”) And libraries should be “more and more a place to do stuff, not just to find stuff. We need to stop being a grocery store and being a kitchen.” http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6574501.html

Interesting, after all Borders is not just a bookstore and Wegman's is not just a grocery store.

American Community Survey

As if I didn't have enough to do...our household was "scientifically" chosen to participate in the American Community Survey from the Census Bureau, which is required by law to fill out. The survey should only take 38 minutes. The government should be able to facilitate this survery online; it would be much easier that way. Maybe this significant data will enable my community leaders to see the need to fund libraries, the bedrock of communities.

Web 2.0 and the Classroom

Here is an interesting article for those of us who have or will have obtained our MLIS online and how we will continue to use Web 2.0 in our classrooms in the future.
http://chronicle।com/wiredcampus/article/3097/the-battle-between-web-20-and-the-classroom
My family had a blast at Hersheypark yesterday. Waiting out the thunderstorm near the mouse ride for over an hour was entertaining. Thankfully the announcement (after careening around the corner you want to have a memory to take home...) about purchasing your mouse photo was turned off after someone mentioned the possibility. A young couple became very amorous in a secluded corner. I preferred watching the kids run around in the rain with joyful abandon, once the thunder and lightning were finished. They even found a soppying wet necktie to play with briefly, until we stopped that. The payoff was the rain cleared most people out of the park and we still had fours of fun left to go! www.hersheypark.com

Take 6...I can't Take it anymore

Here is my attempt at the Jing video. This was harder than I thought. I felt like an actress trying to memorize lines; or more likely acting like I knew what I was doing. There was a little snafu at the end but that's ok. The process is what is important right? not the final product.
http://screencast.com/t/Z4XuHfUaw

biking

We rode on two long bikes rides over the weekend. It is great to be able to get out and enjoy this weather without sitting at the computer all day. I even managed to read some books this summer: A Twist of Faith, Amish Grace, and The Shack.

Check out http://www.bookhuddle.com/

eprints

I finished the e prints assignment! Yesterday we did a road trip to the Philly Zoo. The weather is so beautiful I think I'll be going outside now.

Glut

Now that I have numerous RSS feeds coming into my Google Reader I am experiencing information glut! There are so many good resources. I have to stop myself from trying to keep track of everything. I started to work on the eprints assignment. I took my son to a summer library program today, a magician who was showing the kids how to "catch the reading bug." I can't wait till this schoolwork is behind me and I can actually be in a library connecting people with the information they seek and fostering a love of learning.

google

An interesting article I came across today at the library when my daughter was volunteering: Is google making us stupid? http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

A thousand steps

Once again I have enjoyed taking a break from the computer. It sure is hard to stay motivated with the hot/humid weather. We visited some friends in State College and hiked Mt. Nittany. Our reward was to stop at the new creamery. We also took the challenge of hiking the "Thousand Steps" near Huntingdon, Pa. Men used to walk up and down these steps everyday to work in the quarry, unbelievable! No one would have been out of shape. I wasn't sure I was going to make it but I did! In some ways this library degree has been like taking those thousand steps!

We also toured the new Gettysburg visitor's center and the battlefield.

Scopus

I am full swing into the next assignment. It sures goes easier when I ask for some help instead of struggling over and over. I am getting more comfortable with experimenting but it never fails that there is a question I have. Hopefully this will all pay off someday when I can actually help someone else. I sure appreciate all the help that fellow students are willing to give each other. That's the way librarians are, we can't help it.

My husband's work is incorporating some web 2.0 features now. They have intranet and will be able to customize their employee homepage.

Monday

We survived graduation day and had a wonderful celebration. My middle daughter made a power point presentation of family photos over the years to give her sister as a present. My son who is 8 has also become a whiz at power point, experimenting with this technology. It truly amazes me.

Today was also the first day of summer vacation so I got the kids signed up for three different summer reading programs at our local public libraries. My middle daughter will be doing some library volunteering as well.

We also have a heat wave going on...95 degrees!

Graduation

I did the World Cat assignment. It went fairly easy but I am not sure if I have done it right. This week has been hard to concentrate as our oldest daughter is graduating on Saturday from high school! We are so proud of her. I will be joining her as my graduation is this summer! Then of course I am hoping to find a library job so that I can help pay for her college!

completion not perfection

Completion not perfection has been the mantra of this entire program and I hope it continues for my final semester. I posted my first Info Tech assignment. It is overwhelming to be exposed to so many different things at once but hopefully things will come back to us in the future even if the learning process is sometimes painful!

Anniversary

Today is my 24th anniversary! That's all I am going to say except that I will publicly thank my hubby here for all of his technical help to me for the past two years since I have started this program.

Here is an interesting article I saw recently about corporate use of social networking tools.

http://www.pennlive.com/patriotnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/business/1210985716259330.xml&coll=1

cookie embedding test

Here is my attempt at adding a video, thanks to Carol J's help.

Plunging In

The podcasts helped me to focus on some key points. I hope that there will be some video and step by step instructions for some of these processes. Sometimes I feel I have clicked every possible button to no avail! I don't like learning that way; I prefer some guidance to get started. I have gotten some things into Refworks from delicious but only 31 items not the 42 that I had. My blog was even giving me trouble as it was converting my words into Hindi without my having done anything. Tonight my daughter turned the desktop screen upside-down. We finally got that straightened out.

Pa Grand Canyon

My family had a great time in the PA Grand Canyon. Here is the website. http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/leonardharrison.

We hiked, biked and rafted in the canyon. In Wellsboro we found a quaint independent bookstore. www.wellsborobookstore.com "From My Bookshelf."

Third blog

I doubt I will have time to read all of the blogs but I have managed to get the blogs for cohort 6.5 into my google reader! Go 6.5 ers! It is amazing how a little thing can make my day. Yet right around the corner is another technology to figure out!

My family will soon be heading to the PA Grand Canyon for the weekend where there will not be any computers!

Second blog

Well here I am again for the second time. I don't really have much to say at this point. I am managing ok so far but wonder how I will ever use all of these technologies? I do see the value in being able to use Web 2.0 in the library to connect with patrons and stay on top of emergent technologies. I would prefer some video component to the class but I guess the readings and podcasts will have to suffice.

first blog

Well here I am writing my first blog for a class, otherwise I am not sure I would take the time to blog. I would much read other things than write my own wandering thoughts. Why did I choose the name Carol's Crinkles? I don't have a good reason except that I like cookies and it sounded like a name for a cookie. One definition of crinkle is: to form many short bends or turns; in all likelihood that is what this blog will do. I have a friend who called me the email queen. It remains to be seen if I master and find other web 2.0 features as useful.