Author Archives: Joseph Antonioli, Brenda Ellis and Arabella Holzapfel

Friday Links – October 10, 2014

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How tech is changing the way we think and what we think about – There are a myriad of arguments for and against the increased use of technology in everyday life. Futurists and technophiles encourage its use, sure that technology will welcome a new utopia, while luddites rail against the “destructive” nature of technology use.

The Next Wave of Tech Change | Self-Publishing & Libraries (from Library Journal)

Trust, Privacy, Big Data, and E-book readers “… the Amazon Kindle platform is as much a data ingest tool for providing end-user behavior data to Amazon as it is a sales platform for digital media content,…” … “It seems that counter to this trend, libraries and scholarly publishers are the exception to the rule. Whether our community will remain outliers and whether this status is a good thing or not over the long run, remains to be seen.”

Lunch time Learning: Library Services & Resources at Middlebury

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Wed. Sept. 3rd, noon – 1pm, Davis Family Library Computer Lab (DFL 105) – lower level.  Drop-ins welcome or sign-up online (use the last box to tell us if there is something specific you want covered).

Description: Bring your lunch to the library and learn about what we have to offer you and your family.  We’ll introduce you to library services and resources available to Midd users and their families and show you how to search MIDCAT, the library catalog, and Summon (our “search everything” tool) to discover resources like books, articles, films, eBooks, audiobooks, and more. Learn how to access news and popular magazines online as well as find online resources aimed at all ages.  Questions will be answered throughout the session.

Friday Links – August 15

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How Successful People Stay Calm (from LinkedIn)

  • Article explains optimal stress and includes 10 best strategies for managing stress (and emotions).

Churnalism: When Press Releases Masquerade as News Stories

  • British YouTube video illustrating “churnalism” (media articles based on press releases) with examples of how some fake press releases made it into mainstream media.  By Churnalism.com (promotes their churnalism detection extension for Chrome and Firefox). (Shared on the ili-l listserv by Maryke Barber).

Demand Media Infographic

  • Infographic illustrating how “content mills” work based on one example.  Shows how content (matching web search terms) is written for the internet to generate ad sales. (Also shared on the ili-l listserv by Maryke Barber).

Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) seeks to weed out ‘predatory’ OA journals.

… following criticism of [DOAJ’s] quality-control checks, the website is asking all of the journals in its directory to reapply on the basis of stricter criteria. It hopes the move will weed out ‘predatory journals’: those that profess to publish research openly, often charging fees, but that are either outright scams or do not provide the services a scientist would expect, such as a minimal standard of peer review or permanent archiving …

More background and perspective from Rick Anderson via the Scholarly Kitchen.

 

Google Scholar Metrics for Journal Rankings Updated

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“Scholar Metrics provide an easy way for authors to quickly gauge the visibility and influence of recent articles in scholarly publications.” On June 26th, Google released the 2014 version of Scholar Metrics. “This release is based on citations from all articles that were indexed in Google Scholar as of mid-June 2013 and covers articles published in 2009–2013.”  More info on Google Scholar Blog.  Be sure to click on the categories and sub-categories on the left menu to drill down by discipline.

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You can also get journal citation metrics from Scopus (library subscription database of scholarly articles).

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Click on Browse Sources to see a list by subject (some categories are very broad) – you can rank by SJR or SNIP, but only within each letter of the alphabet.  You can also click on Analyze Journals and get metrics for a specific journal and compare with up to 10 journals you select.  See a brief demo here.  More tutorials are available on Scopus.

Bibliographic Essay: Online Educational Videos

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The August 2013 issue of Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries (Midd subscribes) had a bibliographic essay is entitled: “Teaching and Learning with Online Educational Videos: A Subject List of Web Resources for Educators.”  It describes both general sources for a variety of subjects (such as open course ware sites, lecture sites, etc.) available on YouTube and elsewhere and also provides a subject listing.  Resources range from popular sites to more academic.

LIS Workshops: find summer reading, movies, & more + website development

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LIS Workshop:  Library Services & Resources at Middlebury

Wed, 5/28,  2:00 – 3:00 pm  Davis Family Library 105 Computing Lab (lower level)

We’ll introduce you to library services and resources available to Midd users and show you how to search MIDCAT, the library catalog, and Summon (our “search everything” tool) to discover resources like books, articles, films, eBooks, audiobooks, and more.  Learn how to access news and popular magazines online as well as find online resources aimed at all ages.

Website Maintenance Work Session

Thu, 5/29,   1:00 – 2:30 pm  Davis Family Library 105 Computing Lab (lower level)

Do you maintain a website in Drupal, WordPress, MediaWiki (wiki), or Moodle?  Bring your work to this session and we’ll have staff on-hand to help you with any questions as you update or create your site.  This is not a formal workshop; we will answer questions and problems as they come up.  Work sessions will be staffed on a rotating basis by representatives from each of the following areas:  Web Application Development, Curricular Technology, and User Services.

Sign up online or visit http://go.middlebury.edu/lisworkshops to view the full workshop schedule.

Friday links – May 9, 2014

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Net Neutrality – at risk again, now by the FCC.

Open-Source Software for College Administrators Reaches ‘Tipping Point’ After 10 Years – In 2004, when information-technology leaders at Indiana University and the University of Hawaii announced plans to develop a financial-management system for higher education and distribute it free, they met plenty of skepticism.

SisOps: Girl Friendly Tech Programs (article)
Provides descriptions of a number of different programs and opportunities for girls to get interested in and use technology.  From School Library Journal.

Friday links – December 13, 2013

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Can scholarly publishing evolve beyond the pdf? “…includes a brief history of digital publishing, and a look at how PDF and HTML have evolved. In spite of significant usability improvements, rich linking, and supporting information in HTML full-text articles, researchers still choose PDF over HTML 65% of the time.”

The allure of the print book “… But when I touched that physical book again for the first time in years, it was like the moment you hear a nostalgic song on the radio and are instantly lost in it. The feeling of a print book, with its rough paper and thick spine, is an absorbing and pleasurable experience — sometimes more so than reading on a device. …”

Validation – What happens when garage attendant meets DMV photographer.  Watch this if you need a smile or holiday pick-me-upper.  Yes this is work related – recommended by Middlebury’s Dale Carnegie trainer.