A weekly short list of tweets that librarians and the teens that they serve may find interesting.

Do you have a favorite Tweet from the past week? If so add it in the comments for this post. Or, if you read a Twitter post between April 6 and April 12 that you think is a must for the next Tweets of the week send a direct or @ message to lbraun2000 on Twitter.
(more…)

I work in an academic library.  We find that the most effective way to encourage students to use the library is to go into their classroom and have bibliographic instruction.  As we demonstrate how to access our library virtually from the classroom, we try to expand our students’ perception of the libraries.  A library is not a physical brick and mortar building but a resource  available all day long from anywhere.   Although these sessions are certainly effective, we only go into the classrooms twice a semester.   We are beginning to try new ideas to try to replicate the benefits of our classroom instruction to demonstrate  that library and librarians are not contained within the walls of our building.  To do this we are changing the idea of where and how reference assistance happens.

(more…)

My first school librarian position was in a library located in the very center of the school. It was literally in the middle, of the middle, of everything. So it is no wonder that I think of libraries being the center or the heart of a school. Libraries are a central place for learning, reading, technology, but they can also be the central location of arts and arts integration in a school as well.

There are so many ways that the school library can be used to showcase the arts. The libraries’ walls are perfect to feature student art, the shelves are fantastic to display student projects, sculptures, and other standing designs. If your library has open space, students have a location where they can perform music, theater, and dance. Along with all of the cool sites out there that can also be integrated, its pretty easy to bring the arts into your library. Below are a few examples of arts-based websites that you can use as well.

1. Odosketch: http://sketch.odopod.com/: Students can create gorgeous charcoal style drawings on this site. Feature student art on library computers.

2. Flockdraw: http://flockdraw.com/: This collaborative drawing tool lets students create art pieces together.

3. Storybird: http://storybird.com/: Combine storytelling and art with this site. Have students create stories and then share them with their peers.

4. Vokle: http://www.vokle.com/: Share live events with Vokle. Performances, concerts and more. (Know that this site is for older students. Broadcasters must be 13 years or older)

These are only a few sites that incorporate arts and technology. There are many more. They can be used as exciting new learning tools in your library. As a librarian who featured the arts in her library on a regular basis,  I can tell you that having art, theatre, poetry, and more in your library is wonderful. It’s another way to show the library as a central focus point of the school. It offers librarians another way to collaborate with their peer educators and the students love seeing their work featured where everyone can see.

A few weeks ago, Erin Daly mentioned Scanalations in her excellent article about the new manga apps from Viz and Yen Press. Below is the definition she linked to on “No Flying, No tights.”

Scanalation – In this age of internet file-sharing, one of the most important fan activities surrounding Japanese manga (or Korean manhwa or Chinese manhua) is a process called scanlation. Fans get physical copies of titles in their original language, scan in the pages, translate the text into the language they need (for us, English), and then post the results on the internet for fans to read. Scanlation is the term coined for this process, and it usually involves a number of fans working on different aspects. Officially, this is illegal under international copyright law. At this point, publishers have not attacked individuals fans or those downloading and reading the posted scanlations, but there have been some skirmishes from groups. Many groups have a kind of honor code — they will only publish scanlations of titles not yet available where they are (i.e. in the US), and once that titles becomes available, they will take their scanlations down. However, there are many sites that continue to publish series after they’ve been licensed for US distribution, and if you work with teenagers, you should know that many of them read their favorite series online, direct from Japan. For a similar process for anime, see fansubs.

Scanalations are important to teen librarians because they technically violate copyright, and there is a good chance that you are teens are viewing them on the library computers. I know they view them on ours. We are working on how to address the issue now, but it is a complicated problem.

(more…)

A weekly short list of tweets that librarians and the teens that they serve may find interesting.

Do you have a favorite Tweet from the past week? If so add it in the comments for this post. Or, if you read a Twitter post between March 30 and April 5 that you think is a must for the next Tweets of the week send a direct or @ message to lbraun2000 on Twitter.
(more…)

You have probably noticed that Pinterest is getting a lot of attention from teen librarians lately. If you have not seen this site for yourself, Pinterest is a social network/curation site based on the concept of a pinboard. Users share images by “pinning” them. Followers can see each other’s boards and “repin” images they like. It’s a great way to share programming ideas, with a clean, pleasant look and an easy-to-use interface. YALSA recently used Pinterest to share ideas for Teen Tech Week.

There has been plenty of chatter on the ya-yaac listserv about Pinterest as well, mostly singing its praises, but a thread titled ”Pinterest is awesome, but are we risking a lawsuit” gave me pause. In this thread, people linked to a couple of blog posts that expressed serious concerns with the copyright implications of “repinning” content and some conflicting messages between Pinterest’s terms of service and suggested use of the site.

(more…)

Title: Angry Birds Space

Cost: $0.99

Platform: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 (s), iPod touch, iPad, and Android. Requires i0S 4.0 or later.

The pigs are back to try to outsmart the birds, but this time they meet their fate in…space! Rovio Mobile, the same company that developed all of the previous Angry Birds games, has just unveiled the newest addition to the Angry Birds game family, Angry Birds Space. This game has all of the same excellent and addictive features as its predecessors, plus more. Since launching just last week, the app has already been downloaded over 10 million times! What makes it so cool? Well, the battles between the pigs and the birds take place in space where there are gravitational force fields and the game has new varieties of birds with special abilities, such as the bird who can freeze things by casting an ice shield when launched. This game is really fun and a must for teens who already enjoy the original Angry Birds games. (more…)

A weekly short list of tweets that librarians and the teens that they serve may find interesting.

Do you have a favorite Tweet from the past week? If so add it in the comments for this post. Or, if you read a Twitter post between March 23 – March 29 that you think is a must for the next Tweets of the week send a direct or @ message to lbraun2000 on Twitter.
(more…)

Title: Shazam

Cost: Free

Platform: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad (requires iOs 3.0 or later), Android, Blackberry, Nokia, Windows Phone 7

I like to listen to public radio on my way home from work because the DJs select from a diverse library of tunes. I cannot tell you how often I hear a new, exciting song but miss the artist’s name. Desperately clinging to a few lyrics, I hurry home and try to put my reference skills to use. Sometimes I find the song, but just as often, the song is lost forever, only a hazy melody in my head.  For music lovers, this week’s app is truly magic: Shazam!

Press the button on Shazam, and the app will listen for a few seconds, matching tunes with a database. The screen pops up with the album cover, the artist’s name, and a list of other ways to interact with the song.  Share it with a friend via Facebook or Twitter, read lyrics in time with the song, check reviews, browse related You Tube videos, and buy tracks from iTunes.  If you pay to upgrade the app, you can also add the song to Spotify and receive recommendations for similar music. (more…)

A weekly short list of tweets that librarians and the teens that they serve may find interesting.

Do you have a favorite Tweet from the past week? If so add it in the comments for this post. Or, if you read a Twitter post between March 16 – March 22 that you think is a must for the next Tweets of the week send a direct or @ message to lbraun2000 on Twitter.
(more…)