Hey...check out this list of summer reading ideas, courtesy of Indiana Children Services Librarians. It's a Word DOC found when you click on Be Creative. I loved the Book-Cover design contest idea, and all the "science-y" stuff too. There are ideas to do with every age in this post, from little kids making play "Goo" to acting out parts of books for You-Tube videos with teens.
http://in.webjunction.org/566/articles/content/3758033
For more summer program fun, see also:
NYS's summer reading webpage at
http://www.summerreadingnys.org/
or RIF (Reading is Fundamental):
http://www.rif.org/summer/
Monday, January 26, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
I won the Wii !!!!!
Yes, ladies & gentlemen, I must have stepped into something good this morning because I just found out that in a random drawing of blogging participants for WLS, our local library system, I won the Wii ! Now where am I going to find money to buy the games for it in these here sour economic times in library-land? Hmmmm... wondering if we can "Phone a Friend..." (of the friends of the library kind...!)
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Canterbury Tales rewritten in New Maitland Book
Karen Maitland's Canturbry-Tale-esque "Company of Liars" is a brilliant little story of a rag-tag group coming together by chance and fleeing "the pestilence" together during the dark and bitter wintry days of England, writhing under the scourge of the religious "Pardoners".
Well-written, quick-reading, and entertaining, the characters are genuinely intriguing and each gets his or her story told by the end....and what stories they are! What are in the secret boxes? What will happen to the baby? Where is the wolf? Read it to believe it!
Well-written, quick-reading, and entertaining, the characters are genuinely intriguing and each gets his or her story told by the end....and what stories they are! What are in the secret boxes? What will happen to the baby? Where is the wolf? Read it to believe it!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
On-line Photo Books - A summary of experiences!
Having a toddler at home, as well as a digital camera, makes me an ideal candidate to try out the many different On Line Photo Book generators that are being hyped through SPAM mail to my inbox on a daily basis.
So far, I have have great results from:
1) Apple.com's photo book software. The pictures in the book I received, by mail, a week later, were beautifully clear, sharp and true to color and it accepted my low-res pics from my 5 year old camera.
2) SnapFish photo books were of a leser quality than Apple, but also a lesser price. Some of my Low-res pics were flagged a "too low" for them to process and they came out blurry in the final book, to my great chagrin, since they weren't as blurry online when I was editing them. I used MYCOKEREWARDS points to lessen the price and try them out, otherwise, the cost is a flat rate of about $21 plus $1 per page extra you add, which can add up quickly in my world!
3) Hallmark Gallery photo books, like snapfish were lsightly lesser quality than Apple, but very nice, still. Both Hallmark & Snapfish allow you some choices in backgrounds and cover colors, although I didn't think the variety was quite as good as Apple's.
4) MyPublisher.com Like SnapFish, easy to use, again not as quality as Apple. Binding was a bit weaker on this one, but I only made a thin book.
5) KodakGallery.com I encountered glitches using this one
6) Shutterfly.com: I have not tried this one yet! I'll update this post when I do!
7) SmileBox.com- looks amazing from what I saw, but I have not tried it yet. Lots of cool graphics seem to be available for use, so that's an improvement! I'll update this post when I try it!
That's all for now!
So far, I have have great results from:
1) Apple.com's photo book software. The pictures in the book I received, by mail, a week later, were beautifully clear, sharp and true to color and it accepted my low-res pics from my 5 year old camera.
2) SnapFish photo books were of a leser quality than Apple, but also a lesser price. Some of my Low-res pics were flagged a "too low" for them to process and they came out blurry in the final book, to my great chagrin, since they weren't as blurry online when I was editing them. I used MYCOKEREWARDS points to lessen the price and try them out, otherwise, the cost is a flat rate of about $21 plus $1 per page extra you add, which can add up quickly in my world!
3) Hallmark Gallery photo books, like snapfish were lsightly lesser quality than Apple, but very nice, still. Both Hallmark & Snapfish allow you some choices in backgrounds and cover colors, although I didn't think the variety was quite as good as Apple's.
4) MyPublisher.com Like SnapFish, easy to use, again not as quality as Apple. Binding was a bit weaker on this one, but I only made a thin book.
5) KodakGallery.com I encountered glitches using this one
6) Shutterfly.com: I have not tried this one yet! I'll update this post when I do!
7) SmileBox.com- looks amazing from what I saw, but I have not tried it yet. Lots of cool graphics seem to be available for use, so that's an improvement! I'll update this post when I try it!
That's all for now!
Comment on Booklovers.pbwiki.com
I just ventured onto the BookLovers wiki, and clicked on their 5-Star books list. Believe it or not, The DaVinci Code was one of them. Now, I am not sure how they rated their books, but I would be hard-pressed to give that overly contrived, unbelievable, and inaccurate book anywhere NEAR five stars, and it had a terrible, rushed ending to boot, but I digress...
As the wiki of a Summer Reading Club for a library, I immediately saw just how great a tool it really was, since members could not only write about their books and interect with comments and ratings, but everyone seems to have had equal access. This is something I wish we could get going at our library, perhaps for our book clubs, but we have a paltry amount of people with computer access or the skills to even use one in our current book club.
Perhaps when and if we begin a Teen Book Club, this is the format I will use. Although I envision adding RSS feeds to it, maybe a polling area where people can rate books with real time results, and finally, if it works out well, we can incorporate a running "Review Board" of teens that will constantly update our Wiki with review and comments accessible to other teens looking for guidance on books from someone, unlike me, that is their own age!
As the wiki of a Summer Reading Club for a library, I immediately saw just how great a tool it really was, since members could not only write about their books and interect with comments and ratings, but everyone seems to have had equal access. This is something I wish we could get going at our library, perhaps for our book clubs, but we have a paltry amount of people with computer access or the skills to even use one in our current book club.
Perhaps when and if we begin a Teen Book Club, this is the format I will use. Although I envision adding RSS feeds to it, maybe a polling area where people can rate books with real time results, and finally, if it works out well, we can incorporate a running "Review Board" of teens that will constantly update our Wiki with review and comments accessible to other teens looking for guidance on books from someone, unlike me, that is their own age!
"Wiki-Wiki-Wiki....!"
No, I am not quoting a line from "Jam on It", a bad early 90s song! I'm talking wikis, ya'll(wikipedia, pbwiki, wetpaint, wikiseek, etc.)
But, remarkably, just as the song lyrics say, we have all been sayin' "Wiki- Wiki-Wiki..." for a while now as we use this tool to make our searching life easier in the library, or... we say it as we scold teens for doing a bit too much cutting-and-pasting from it! Ahh, the internet.
But Wikis can be invaluable tools. Here in the Riverfront Library we keeps lists of direct links to non-oft-visited websites that have great -- albeit Impossible to Find-- information, as well as lists of local agency phone numbers and extensions that are hard to come by.
It is a collaborative tool and a content manager that is easily accessible by everyone with the password to get onto it, since our wiki is indeed password protected.
And the first time I ventured onto the wiki comparison site, wikimatrix.org, I was blown away by the sheer breadth and types of available wikis, apart from WikiPedia.org.
I think Wikis will continue to be valuable tools as long as we don't abuse their content and the rights of the people whose content often gets posted on it.
Cue "Jam on It"....it's time to Wiki...Wiki..Wiki....!
But, remarkably, just as the song lyrics say, we have all been sayin' "Wiki- Wiki-Wiki..." for a while now as we use this tool to make our searching life easier in the library, or... we say it as we scold teens for doing a bit too much cutting-and-pasting from it! Ahh, the internet.
But Wikis can be invaluable tools. Here in the Riverfront Library we keeps lists of direct links to non-oft-visited websites that have great -- albeit Impossible to Find-- information, as well as lists of local agency phone numbers and extensions that are hard to come by.
It is a collaborative tool and a content manager that is easily accessible by everyone with the password to get onto it, since our wiki is indeed password protected.
And the first time I ventured onto the wiki comparison site, wikimatrix.org, I was blown away by the sheer breadth and types of available wikis, apart from WikiPedia.org.
I think Wikis will continue to be valuable tools as long as we don't abuse their content and the rights of the people whose content often gets posted on it.
Cue "Jam on It"....it's time to Wiki...Wiki..Wiki....!
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