Edublogs, free blog hosting for educators (including librarians)
Okay, am I the last one to know about this?
Edublogs.org offers, well, you can read the post title. Free blog hosting for librarians, teachers and students. I just signed up, but from what I can tell they have it tricked out with all the bells and whistles you might want. I'm thinking about hosting my next idea for a podcast project there.
Very cool! I just wish I'd known about it when I gave my presentation on personal websites for librarians, since I talked about blogging and WordPress quite a bit.
Upcoming appearance: Atlanta Emerging Librarians
I'm very pleased to say that I'll be presenting to the Atlanta Emerging Librarians group again on September 27. I gave a 20-minute talk last month on Promoting Yourself With a Personal Website. I was really sick that day, and I'm glad they liked me well enough to ask me back! For 50 minutes this time, even.
Anyway. I'm tentatively titling next month's talk "RSS Tools for Emerging Librarians." The organizers have asked me to include discussion of blogs and podcasting, and I'm looking forward to making this more than just a 101-style basics talk. I'll probably do a 5-minute "What is RSS" bit at the beginning and then get into some nitty gritty examples of actual applications and what I think of as "stupid RSS tricks." (And by stupid I mean "clever," of course.)
I love presenting to this group. I feel like they're my peers, and it's informal enough that I can include LOLcat slides and dumb jokes to keep it fun, as long as I don't sacrifice the good information. I'm planning to record the audio and post it here, of course.
UTC Library video
Jason Griffey posted an amazing library publicity video that he worked on recently.
I'd be happy if we could produce something a quarter that cool.
I made it
Today is FSU's official graduation day. I'm not going to Tallahassee for commencement, but celebrating with friends at our favorite bar.
In some ways the last three years have just blown past, but in many many more ways they've dragged by with painful slowness in an exhausting fashion. I couldn't have done it without the unflagging support and encouragement of my friends and family, and especially my wife Anne, who's my grad school hero and never stopped inspiring me to keep going.
Jason Puckett, Master of Library and Information Studies
Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society
FSU class of 2008
WordPress for Libraries Wiki
Laura Crossett has started Wp4lib, the WordPress for Libraries Wiki. It's a bit embryonic at the moment, but a great idea. If you're using WP on your library site, bookmark it and contribute something!
Librarian superheroes
Wow, I started a meme!
A committee at work was writing a sample letter to faculty, and we signed it "Librarian X." Naturally, some of us started speculating that Librarian X must be a superhero, and at the end of the day I whipped up a picture of him on Heromachine to send out.
Here he is, fighting information illiteracy wherever it may occur: Librarian X!
Librarian X
Naturally, my colleague protested that he's male; fair enough, given the demographics of our profession. I was instructed to make a female version (Librarian XX, to go with this Librarian XY). I haven't gotten around to it yet. Maybe they're a duo?
The other members of the Library League that I know of:
Alter Ego (I like his steampunky edge)
W!cKed (Intimidating!)
Drop a comment if you want me to link you here. Ex Libris and Excelsior!
Edit: Created a Flickr pool! More librarian heroes there!
Instructional Podcasting presentation handout
I forgot to post this along with the audio and slides the other day. This is the bibliography and links that we gave out to attendees.
Web links
Emory Library Survival Guide Podcast:
http://web.library.emory.edu/podcast/
"Podcasting" at Library Success Wiki:
http://www.libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Podcasting
Podcasting in Plain English video:
http://www.commoncraft.com/podcasting
Podcast-friendly music
Internet Archive
http://www.archive.org/details/audio
Podsafe Audio
http://www.podsafeaudio.com/
Podsafe Music Network
http://music.podshow.com/
Magnatune
http://www.magnatune.com/info/podcast
Audacity (free, Mac/Windows/Linux, audio recording/editing)
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Camtasia ($299, Mac/Windows, audio/video recording/editing)
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp
Garageband (part of iLife suite, $79 [cheaper at Amazon], Mac only, audio recording/editing)
http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/
iTunes (free, Mac/Windows, podcatcher)
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
Podpress (free, WordPress plugin for podcasters)
http://www.mightyseek.com/podpress/
WordPress (free, podcast publishing)
http://wordpress.org/
Articles
Berk, J., Olsen, S., Atkinson, J., & Comerford, J. (2007). Innovation in a podshell: bringing information literacy into the world of podcasting. Electronic Library, 25(4), 409-419.
Deal, A. (2007, June 4). Podcasting: A Teaching with Technology White Paper. Retrieved July 30, 2008, from http://connect.educause.edu/blog/jklittle/podcastingateachingw/44653.
Griffey, J. (2007). Podcast 1 2 3. Library Journal, 132(11), 32-34.
Mizrachi, D., & Bedoya, J. (2007). LITE Bites: broadcasting bite-sized library instruction. Reference Services Review, 35(2), 249-256. doi: 10.1108/00907320710749164.
Puckett, J. (2008, February 10). Podcasting in Academic Libraries. Jason Puckett.net. Retrieved July 24, 2008, from http://jasonpuckett.net/projects/podcasting-in-academic-libraries/.
Stephens, M. (2005). Libraries Get Podcasting. Library Journal, 130, 24.
Worcester, L., & Barker, E. (2006). Podcasting: Exploring the Possibilities for Academic Libraries. College & Undergraduate Libraries, 13(3), 87-91.
NPR story on librarians at Comic-Con
I'm a few days late, but I don't hear a lot of NPR stories until they make it into the weekly podcast.
Librarians Harvest New Manga Titles At Comic-Con
"Many of them are themselves younger — part of a new generation of librarians who grew up loving comic books. To them, adding manga titles to library shelves seems like a no-brainer."
Being a bit of a con-geek myself, I had to post it. I'm hoping that New York Comic-Con offering free admission to librarians and educators this year is the start of a trend.
First Conclusions
My good friend and former colleague Anna Van Scoyoc has a new blog, first conclusions. Anna is one of the best library instructors I've ever worked with, and really inspired me to get excited about teaching in libraries. I know she'll be posting many thoughful insights about libraries, user services and teaching.
Instructional Podcasting presentation
This is the audio and slides from Rachel Borchardt's and my presentation at the GALILEO/GOLD Users Group Conference, August 1st 2008. (PS: I finally remembered to post the handout.)
The following Creative Commons license applies to both the audio and the slideshow file:
Creating an Instructional Podcast by Rachel Borchardt and Jason Puckett is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
My Zotero book
Adventures in Library Instruction podcast
- Episode 35: The Guide on the Side w/ Meredith Farkas
- Episode 34: Discovery Layers in the Classroom
- Episode 33: Love the Cataloger; Hate the Catalog
My posts @GSU Library
I Support
Twittering
- @librarycourtney Happy to advise if you ever need it, of course.