For a
bi-monthly wrap up of NOLA news and information, be sure to check out NOLA Notes!
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| From
the Director's Desk - Paul Pormen |
 State
Budget Updates
Gov. Taft has submitted his new budget. For information on the budget and the complete budget go to:
http://www.state.oh.us/obm/
School Libraries:
School Libraries Stocked with Inaccurate Information and Harmful
Stereotypes http://reed.senate.gov/schoollibraries/Ohio
"In the year 2010 everyone wears a jumpsuit and shoes. The clothes may look odd, but they are very sensible."
2010 Living in the Future Copyright: 1972 Cincinnati
The Benefit of The School Library: An Essential Learning Tool
http://reed.senate.gov/schoollibraries/library.htm
School Library Media Specialists: Helping Students Unlock Their Potential
http://reed.senate.gov/schoollibraries/mediaspecialists.htm
All About Anna
Here's a link to Wired that tells the story of the "AnnaKournikova"
e-mail worm that has recently been the stuff of headlines and email
warnings.... http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,41782,00.html
INS Resources for Education
The Immigration and Naturalization Service has resources for librarians, teachers and
students online. The site includes historical and present-day information
about immigration and immigration laws. It also links to other sites
related to immigration.
Read more: http://www.ins.gov/graphics/aboutins/history/teacher/Resources.htm
Maps and Photographs From Alaska, Russia Added
to "Meeting of Frontiers" Web Site
Maps and photographs from the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the National Library of Russia in St.
Petersburg and the Russian State Library in Moscow are now available online at the Library of Congress "Meeting of Frontiers" Web site,
http://frontiers.loc.gov/.
"Meeting of Frontiers" is a congressionally funded project to create a bilingual,
English-Russian digital library that chronicles the experiences of the United States and Russia in exploring, developing and
settling their frontiers and the meeting of those frontiers in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. With these additions, the site includes
approximately 80,000 images from the project partner institutions in the United States and Russia. These items -- rare books, maps, manuscripts,
photographs, films and sound recordings -- tell the story of the explorers, fur traders, missionaries, exiles, gold miners and
adventurers who peopled these frontiers and their interactions with the native peoples of Siberia and the American West.
The Library of Congress is lending high-resolution digitizing equipment to libraries in
Moscow, St. Petersburg and several Siberian cities to use in scanning unique and rare materials relating to the
frontiers theme. The Library is also working with the University of Alaska Fairbanks to acquire digital copies of rare materials relating
to Alaska. Scanning operations in Siberia will be carried out with support from the Open Society Institute of Russia.
Among the materials added to "Meeting of Frontiers" as a result of these partnerships are 62 maps that document the discovery and
mapping of Alaska and the North Pacific; Views of Sakhalin Island, an album of photographs taken in the 1890s that provide rare glimpses
of life in this Russian penal colony; and The Clipper Ship Razboinik, an album from the photograph collection of Czar Nicholas II that
documents the 1889 Arctic voyage of the clipper Razboinik (Pirate). Other collections are being digitized and will be added to the "Meeting
of Frontiers" site in 2001-2002.
Items submitted by:
Paul Pormen - Email
Interim Executive Director
NOLA Regional Library System
|
Librarianship Careers
The cover story of the Winter 2001 issue of Occupational Outlook
Quarterly (U.S. Department of Labor) is Librarians: Information Experts
for an Information Age.
It has some interesting projections for the job market, as well as an overview of the kinds of jobs librarians do.
Recommended Reading
Twinsburg Schools completed a District recommended reading list for K-12 last year with a
committee of parents, teachers, librarians (school and public). The focus of the list was to give parents guidelines and kids ideas.
You can access the list on Twinsburg's website
UCITA Resources
The Online UCITA Tutorial - http://copyright.ala.org/
ALA's UCITA Web site at http://www.ala.org/washoff/ucita/
|
| From
the Field - Brad Stephens |
DVD-RAM
Drives Arrive
The first affordable DVD writer is now
available. Panasonic is offering the LF-D201u, a unit capable of
reading and writing double-sided DVD’s (which are rewriteable and have a
storage capacity of 9.4 GB per disk). The system is fast and has performed
very well in reviews. It now looks like a viable option for organizations
needing an inexpensive method to backup or store large amounts of data.
With a bit of shopping on the web expect to pay less than $500 for the
unit and about less than $35 for the double-sided rewriteable DVD-RAM
disks
Read a review
|
The
Expanding Role of Wireless Technology
Coming in the next year to a coffee house near
you… high speed wireless internet access; but guess what NOLA libraries
are well ahead of the curve on this technical trend. A number of
NOLA libraries have already installed wireless networks for staff and
patron use, with more sites planning installations in the near future.
This puts libraries in an excellent position to serve an increasingly
connected patron population. The New York Times published a piece
detailing commercial developments and trends in wireless networking that
is worth a quick read.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/22/technology/22WIRE.html?pagewanted=all
If you’d like to learn more about
wireless technologies or would like a demo feel free to contact the NOLA
office to make arrangements.
 Move
over Rover
Can a robot really replace “Man’s Best
Friend”? Maybe not yet, buy Sony’s
amazing Aibo is starting to infringe on Fido’s turf. Aibo is a
very expensive ($1,500) robot dog that is incredibly life-like (some dogs
even think it’s real). It responds to voice commands, can be
trained to perform certain tasks, and actually changes its personality as
it grows from puppy to adult. While most libraries won’t be
running out to buy Aibo’s, its popularity does increase the likelihood
that we’ll see the popularity of companion and service robots increase
significantly. Just think how robots could be used in libraries...
maybe someday robots will be able to return books to the shelves, and
guide patrons around your building.
Find our more:
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,41680,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,40239,00.html
Ready to Search the Invisible Web?
I recently came across a review of a new
search service called ProFusion. It’s a product designed to help
searchers access the large chunks of web information stored in databases
or other means that can’t be located via traditional search
engines. The site seems to do a very good job of locating
information missed by traditional search engines so give it a try.
Visit the site: http://beta.profusion.com
Items submitted by:
Brad Stephens - Email
NOLA Regional Library System
|
| YS
Corner - Sue McCleaf Nespeca |
|
Filtering Software
The March 2001 issue of Consumer Reports includes a test report on
filtering software, "Digital Chaperones for Kids." The
article begins on page 20 & ends on page 23.
Storytime Planning Sites
Here are two great sites you will want to look at for
planning storytime programs. There are songs,
fingerplays, dramatic play, crafts etc. etc.
Check them out - I am sure you will want to
bookmark them.
www.preschooleducation.com
www.childfun.com
|
Harry Potter series again tops
list of most challenged books
The best-selling Harry Potter series of
children's books by J.K. Rowling tops the list of books most challenged
for the second year in a row. According to the American Library
Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom, Harry Potter first
entered the list last year, rising to the top after only three months. The
number of challenges to Harry Potter reported in 2000 is triple that of
1999. The series continues to draw complaints from parents and others
concerned about the books' alleged occult/Satanic theme, religious
viewpoint, anti-family approach and violence.
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received a total of 646 challenges
in 2000, up from 472 in 1999. A challenge is defined as a formal, written
complaint filed with a library or school about a book's content or
appropriateness. Schools, school libraries, and public libraries report
the majority of challenges.
The number of challenges reflects only those incidents reported, according
to Judith F. Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom. She
estimates that less than one-quarter of all challenges are reported and
recorded.
The "Ten Most Challenged Books of 2000" reflect a wide variety
of themes. The books, in order of most frequently challenged are:
- Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling, for
occult/Satanism and anti-family themes
- "The Chocolate War," by Robert
Cormier, for violence, offensive language and being unsuited to age
group
- Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor,
for sexual content and being unsuited to age group
- "Killing Mr. Griffin," by Lois
Duncan, for violence and sexual content
- "Of Mice and Men," by John
Steinbeck, for using offensive language, racism, violence and being
unsuited to age group
- "I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings," by Maya Angelou, for sexual content, racism, offensive
language, violence and being unsuited to age group
- "Fallen Angels," by Walter Dean
Myers, for offensive language, racism, violence and being unsuited to
age group
- Scary Stories series, by Alvin Schwartz,
for violence, being unsuited to age group and occult themes
- "The Terrorist," by Caroline
Cooney, for violence, being unsuited to age group and occult themes
- "The Giver," by Lois Lowry, for
being sexually explicit, occult themes and violence.
The top three most challenged books of 2000
are the same as 1999, with "The Chocolate War" and the Alice
series exchanging places. The Scary Stories series, "I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings," "The Chocolate War" and "Of Mice
and Men," all were among the ten most frequently challenged books of
the last decade.
For more information about the most challenged books of the decade, please
see
http://www.ala.org/alaorg/oif
Middle School Mania: Materials, Programs
and Services for Grades 5 - 8
Sponsored by: NOLA, NORWELD,and MOLO Regional
Library Systems
Open to anyone serving Grades 5 - 8 in public or school libraries
May 10 - 11, 2001at
Mohican State Park Resort
Featured Speakers:
Patrick Jones, author of Connecting Young Adults and Libraries
Patricia Hermes, award-winning author of Cheat the Moon and
many other books for middle school children
Also, Santina Protopapa, Education Programs Coordinator for the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame; Meg Chamberlain, Director of Children' Theatre, Beck
Center for the Arts, Cleveland; and Bonnie Herrage, Young Adult Librarian
at Parma Ridge Branch Library, Cuyahoga County Public Library System.
Registration Costs: $95 members; $150 Non-members
To Register: www.molo.lib.oh.us/member/olr/reg/default.htm
Room Cost: $85 per night + bed tax (Bring Tax Exempt Form)
For Room Reservations: 1-800-282-7275
For More Information contact:
NOLA, Melissa Lattanzi, 1-800-589-6652;
MOLO,
Chris Hopkins, 1-800-829-6656;
NORWELD, Lee Gregory, 1-800-848-0144
OR Sue
McCleaf Nespeca at [email protected]
Items submitted by:
Sue McCleaf Nespeca
[email protected]
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