Glenbrook South Library

Facebook & College Admissions

2011-11-09T12:10:00.003-06:00

Can you guess the six novels these famous opening lines are from?

2011-10-14T11:47:00.002-05:00

Banned Books Week Virtual Read Out

2011-09-27T14:59:00.000-05:00

It's the American Library Association's Banned Books Week (September 24-October 1). This year, the ALA is hosting a Virtual Read Out:

"During this year’s celebration of Banned Books Week, readers will be able to proclaim the virtues of their favorite banned books by posting videos of themselves reading excerpts to a dedicated YouTube channel."

Find out more about how to upload your own video here: Virtual Read Out--Banned Books Week.

Access My Library School Edition

2011-07-24T09:54:00.004-05:00

Access My Library is a wonderful resource from Gale. It allows students to access many of the GBS Library's subscription resources from their iPhones:

AccessMyLibrary School Edition app is free for your iPhone/iPod touch www.gale.com/apps

Requires the Gale password for first use. Click HERE for the password or ask a librarian for help.

Book Buddies--Glenview Public Library

2011-05-10T16:20:00.002-05:00

"Play a vital part in helping new readers retain their skills during summer vacation. Be a one-on-one Reading Buddy for the Book Buddies program and meet once per week with a child entering grades 1-3 to read aloud together. One training session is required, as well as one hour of service per week for six weeks."

Click Here for more information

National Library Week

2011-04-12T16:15:00.002-05:00

Happy National Library Week! Come down to the library for the annual Jelly Bean Counting contest, tell us about your Favorite Book, and try your hand at our daily scavenger hunt question.

Unity Junior High School Library Adapts the GBS Library Information Literacy Game 2.0

2011-03-17T14:37:00.003-05:00

I'm really excited that our GBS Library Information Literacy Game has been adapted by Librarian Kathy Wickline of Unity Junior High School for her school's information literacy curriculum.

It's a testament to the awesomeness of creative commons licensing and library culture that junior high and high school librarians have been able to take a game that was designed for college students and been able to adapt it to our unique needs.

Check out Kathy's game here: http://ujhs.com/mediacenter/gamefiles2010/gamefiles2010/index.html

20 Ways to Teach About the Disaster in Japan Across the Curriculum (New York Times)

2011-03-15T14:46:00.004-05:00

The folks at the NYT have a developed a comprehensive guide to teaching students about the disaster in Japan.

Here's the link: http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/20-ways-to-teach-about-the-disaster-in-japan-across-the-curriculum/

Seuss Week Video

2011-03-08T11:01:00.001-06:00

Check out our 2011 Seuss Week Video and our dress up contests.

Smart People Use Smart Libraries

2011-03-03T12:03:00.008-06:00

Great video for 2011 Library Week Ireland

Seuss Week is Here Again!

2011-02-28T14:37:00.006-06:00

During the week of March 8^th, the library will be hosting a variety of activities including dress-up days, a check-out goal, best-dressed contests and a Drop Everything and Read time.

Dress up days:

Tuesday – Pajama day for The Sleep Book

Wednesday – Twin day for The Cat in the Hat Comes Back

Thursday – Zoo Animal day for If I Ran the Zoo

Friday – Gold and Blue day for One Fish, Two Fish, GOLD Fish, Blue Fish

*** Come to the Library for the best-dressed contest!***

Thursday, March 10^th: D.E.A.R. Day –

Drop Everything And Read at the end of 2^nd period.

-The entire school (even teachers) will take 16 minutes out of the day to READ!!!

Here be Kindles

2011-01-13T14:59:00.001-06:00

The Kindles are here!

We have 5 Kindles available for student and faculty use.You can check them out at the circulation desk.

For more information, click here .

Have a suggestion for a title you want to see on the Kindles (or on the shelves)? Please fill out our Library Materials Suggestion Form.

Macho Man Randy Savage in the Library

2010-12-21T15:59:00.000-06:00

For your holiday viewing pleasure, I bring you this Slim Jim commercial in which Macho Man Randy Savage visits a library. It promotes the usual stereotypes of libraries (boring, full of dull-looking books) and librarians (frumpy). I was heartened to see that this 1993 library has at least one computer.

Access My Library

2010-12-08T12:22:00.000-06:00

Get all of the *many* Gale databases the GBS Library subscribes to on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Get the Access My Library app by clicking here.

You'll need the GBS Library Password for the Gale resources for a one time authentication. Click here for the password info (and you'll need to use your username & password--the same ones you use on the school's computers to access the document).

Let us know if you have any questions.

Make your own information literacy game--ISLMA conference presentation

2010-10-20T08:51:00.001-05:00

John Casey, our esteemed lab manager and I are going to give a presentation at the ISLMA Conference next Friday on how to modify an existing open source software information literacy game designed by Scott Rice & Amy Harris to tailor it to your information literacy curriculum needs. What's so cool about this is that it's free and you can modify it using basic Windows software (Paint, Notepad) and create a feedback survey using free online software (GoogleDocs).

We've set up a site on our LibGuides to provide all of the resources you'll need to create your own game. We'll be putting up the slideshow, too, once we've finished it :)

Here is the link:
http://gbslibguides.glenbrook225.org/infolitgame

GBS Library's Virtual Reference is here!

2010-09-17T19:13:00.004-05:00

Photo by JKonig. flickr. Used under creative commons license.

As of today, you can access the GBS Librarians from home if you're home from school or in another lab in the building.

If you're with your class in the social studies lab and you're not quite sure how to cite a source for your next paper, just go the the GBS Libguides and click in the GBS Reference chat box to ask a librarian for help. (Or you can access it from the box on the right). If the librarians are all teaching classes or are helping other students or teachers, leave your question & an email address. We'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Virtual Reference Desk hours are 7:30-4:15 on school days.

We're excited about this opportunity to further extend our services beyond the library's walls.

QR codes in libraries

2010-09-04T09:19:00.002-05:00

Prior to a recent conversation the librarians had with with our Instructional Technology Coordinator, David Jakes, I never thought about QR codes, much less their application to libraries. But a lot of people have, and they are doing some pretty neat things. I especially like the way ACU Library uses them to enhance displays and provide more information about the books.

QR Codes to enhance displays & provide more information to patrons at ACU Libraries

Other libraries, such as the University of Huddersfield, are using them to provide text reference services, which I think is really cool, as I love the idea of extending reference beyond the desk/phone model.

Not sure at this point whether the QR codes will catch on here as they have in Japan, or if it's more of a fad. Either way, it seems like an easy & fun way to extend interest in the library resources, say, via book trailers tied to books on a display, or as a way to promote services, such as reference and research help.

Learning with Infographics

2010-08-24T18:19:00.002-05:00

I've seen some really neat stuff on infographics lately. It's officially Infographics week on the New York Times Learning Network, so I'll be checking that out all week.

Today's entry on Teaching Social Studies, History, and Economics with Infographics has some great interactive maps (such as the one illustrated above, which shows immigration patterns in the United States) and some fun tools, such as one where you can compare your own opinions with those of the US Supreme Court.

Even more impressive is a tool from across the pond. BBC Dimensions "takes important places, events and things, and overlays them onto a map of where you are." It's a great way to help students understand the geographical scale of current (Gulf oil spill, Pakistani floods)and historical (Beijing circa 1425, Constantinople) events and places. I often have a hard time trying to figure out "how big" something is based on mere numbers--23 square miles means nothing to me. But I know how big Glenview is, and how big Chicago is, so I found this tool to be very helpful in gaining a genuine perspective of the size of these places and events.

I think resources like this can be a very effective way to enhance student experiences and understanding.

Almost time.....

2010-08-21T15:42:00.002-05:00

School starts again in just a few days. I'm almost ready to roll out the LibGuides. I think they look okay. Still a work in progress, obviously, but I'm really enjoying the ability to modify them so quickly and to be able to incorporate the kind of features we need to extend the library's services beyond the school walls. To that end, I'm desperately hoping we can get the Reference Chat feature working from on the campus. I think it will be such a great and convenient way for people to access our services.

I've added it to the big list-o-gadgets to the right :) We'll be "manning" it starting 8/24.

Stephen Fry: What I Wish I'd Known When I Was 18

2010-05-30T20:54:00.001-05:00

An insightful interview with a brilliant man. I would love to share it with all of our graduating seniors.

STEPHEN FRY: WHAT I WISH I'D KNOWN WHEN I WAS 18 from Peter Samuelson on Vimeo.

Wikipedia FAQ for librarians

2010-05-29T10:52:00.002-05:00

Wikimedia has put out a handy Wikipedia FAQ for librarians.

An important read for teachers and students as well.

Also, here is a snazzy new common craft video on how Wikipedia works that they don't seem to want me to embed [grrr....I guess you get what you pay for :)]

Data shows kids shouldn't multitask

2010-05-25T11:20:00.003-05:00

A University of Virginia psychology professor disputes the claim that young people "learn differently" than the rest of us.

Data shows kids shouldn't multitask -- Willingham (Washington Post)

He's also made a delightful video (in the style of the Common Craft videos) to explain what his research shows about multitasking & the brain.

Study of Young Adults' Trust of Online Content

2010-04-26T12:30:00.001-05:00

Hot off the presses--an article entitled "Trust Online: Young Adults' Evaluation of Web Content" from Northwestern University researchers Eszter Hargittai, Lindsay Fullerton, Ericka Menchen-Trevino, and Kristin Yates Thomas is in the International Journal of Communication, Vol 4 (2010).

Definitely worth a read.

I can has new book?

2010-04-20T16:03:00.002-05:00

The GBS Library welcomes your suggestions for book purchases. We have a new form for requests. It looks a little weird in the blog, so I'll also be posting it on our web site. Here it is:

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Neil Gaiman on Libraries

2010-04-20T09:38:00.003-05:00

Neil Gaiman is absolutely the coolest!: "Google can bring you back, you know, 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one." Check out this short video where he talks about the role of libraries in our society:

Lincoln Award 2011

2010-04-19T19:06:00.003-05:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation from one of my favorite school librarians, Naomi Mellendorf of Maine South:

Lincoln Award 2011

View more presentations from Naomi Mellendorf.

National Library Week

2010-04-11T12:18:00.007-05:00

It's National Library Week (April 11-17). Yay! It's the GBS Library's biggest event of the year. Please come down the the Library & help us celebrate.

We will have daily trivia contests & scavenger hunts, and the ever-popular annual jelly bean contest. Try your hand--you could win gift certificates from Ben & Jerry's & Barnes and Noble! And check out our new books while you're at it.

Newbery Award-winning author Neil Gaiman not only writes books--he reads books, too!! So even you if can't write well enough to win a coveted literary prize, you can still be like Neil --Read :)

Guys Read

2010-03-29T20:48:00.006-05:00

After reading Nicholas Kristof's column about U.S. boys falling behind girls in school, I took another look at Guys Read, the web site with reading lists for boys that he mentions.

Kristof mentions the site's use of boy-appealing categories--and I agree, they're very well done. I was especially delighted by the choice of Outer Space with or without aliens. Nice interface and design, too.

Abe Lincoln Award Books (2011)

2010-03-24T13:56:00.008-05:00

Yes, the race for Abe Lincoln Book Awards for 2011 has begun.

Want to start reading? Here's an annotated list of books & related websites in PDF.

Want to learn more? Check out this (ever-growing) playlist of book trailers of the 2011 nominees:

Texts Without Context

2010-03-21T20:40:00.007-05:00

New York Times book reviewer Michiko Kakutani has written an impressive piece that reviews and distills some of the more significant current literature about digital media and its effect on our artists & writers, our thinking, & our culture. Definitely worth a read, even if it isn't a super-quick one.

I have to admit that my reading/information gathering habits have been affected in the ways Kakutani describes--I found it a bit difficult to sit and read his entire article in one sitting--I kept trying to scan it quickly for a handful of salient points, but in the end, appropriately enough, I just stuck with it and am glad I did; I found it enriching & now have a few more books for my next order.

Texts Without Context

photo: Mashup. Meet the Chumbeques. Flickr. 9 Sep. 2009.

5 cool resources I found on Twitter recently

2010-03-19T20:05:00.005-05:00

History Today Unfortunately, it's not all archived for free, but there is access to some of their excellent articles and some links to some really neat web resources that you can access by time period, theme or location.

Art and Images (British Museum). Stunning collection of online artifacts & exhibits including an amazing interactive timeline. Simply gorgeous & incredibly informative.

inudge Make your own music online. Fun! Cool!

SPIN via Google Books Search by keyword within issue or search the whole collection. Or browse by issue. Very cool.

UCSD Libraries anti-plagiarism tutorial This is really neat. I would *love* to do something like this, if only I knew how.

Green Day!

2010-03-03T09:21:00.001-06:00

We're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication of Green Eggs and Ham. To commemorate the occasion, here is a delightful video of Jesse Jackson reading the book on SNL.

Jesse Jackson Reads Seuss - Click here for more home videos

Not Just for Kids! Dr. Seuss as Political Cartoonist

2010-02-24T22:52:00.088-06:00

Though he is primarily known for books he published for children, Dr. Seuss also published for adult audiences. He drew over 400 political cartoons for the New York publication, PM between 1940 and 1948 and was the chief editorial cartoonist of that publication from 1941-1943. The Mandeville Special Collections Library at the University of California at San Diego has an online collection of many of them entitled Dr. Seuss Went to War.

**Note: These are wartime propaganda cartoons, and his depictions of the Japanese are very unflattering**

His books for children often contain political ideas and themes, some more explicit than others. The Lorax explicitly promotes environmental awareness and conservation, "The Sneetches" clearly addresses issues of discrimination and anti-Semitism, and the tyrannical Yertle the Turtle was even depicted with a Hitler-esque mustache in early editions of the book, and Seuss himself stated: 'I couldn't draw Hitler as a turtle ... So I drew him as King ... of the Pond ... He wanted to be king as far as he could see. So he kept piling them up. He conquered Central Europe and France, and there it was.' ("Dr. Seuss at 75: Grinch, Cat in Hat, Wocket and Generations of Kids in His Pocket". The Washington Post May 21,1979, qtd. in Wikipedia).

There are many more examples of Seuss' use of political and social themes. Sarah Milroy's article "Dr. Seuss: Green Eggs and Subversion" (Globe and Mail November 22, 2003) provides a concise review of some of the major themes in his work.

His opposition to racism, environmental degradation and Cold War politics (see The Butter Battle Book) are admirable and his use of Freudian concepts of Id, Ego and Superego in the Cat in the Hat books is appealing and clever. However, critics have noted that his work is also marked by seeming lack of interest in women or girls. Alison Lurie notes in her essay, "The Cabinet of Doctor Seuss", the "typical Seuss hero is a small boy or male animal; when girls appear, they play silent, secondary roles." Lurie also points out that when female characters are fleshed out, it is often in a negative context, such as the bird Mayzie, who traps Horton into sitting on her egg while she flies off to Palm Beach, and the greedy and vain Gertrude McFuzz, who eats so many magic berries to increase the size of her tail that she renders herself unable to walk (New York Review of Books, December 20, 1990 ).

If you're interested in finding out more about Seuss' writing and art from a cultural or educational perspective, you might enjoy one of the following articles. ***Username & password needed for home access. See a friendly GBS Librarian for details.***

Ingalls, Zoe. "The Cat in the Hat, The Butter Battle Book, and other Soupcons of Seuss!" The Chronicle of Higher Education. 28 Jul 1993. Platinum Periodicals. ProQuest. Web. 25 Feb. 2010.

Juchartz, Larry R. "Team Teaching with Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein in the College Basic Reading Classroom." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 47. 4 (Dec. 2003 - Jan. 2004): 336-341. JSTOR. Web. 25 Feb. 2010

Wolosky, Shira. "Democracy in America: By Dr. Seuss." Southwest Review 85.2 (2000): 167-183. Platinum Periodicals. Web. 25 Feb. 2010.

Other interesting websites:

Art of Dr. Seuss

Advertising Artwork of Dr. Seuss

The Political Doctor Seuss (PBS Independent Lens)

Seuss Week Cometh!

2010-02-23T15:47:00.007-06:00

Seuss Week is coming to GBS! Help the GBS Library & the Titan Learning Center celebrate literacy from March 2- March 5 by participating in the the events and Dress-Up-Days we have planned:

Tuesday: Crazy Socks Day for Fox in Sox

Wednesday: Green Day for Green Eggs and Ham

Thursday: Who Hair Day for Horton Hears a Who

Friday: Hat Day for Cat in the Hat

We will be having trivia and prizes throughout the week.

Friday, March 5 is also DEAR Day--Drop Everything And Read. All of GBS will be taking 16 minutes out of our day to read for the fun of it!

LibGuides are here (sort of)

2010-02-12T20:31:00.008-06:00

The GBS LibGuides are here (in a very embryonic sense of "here").

I am not especially looking forward to the onerous task of migrating virtually the entire GBS Library Web Site to the LibGuides--but I am looking forward to introducing the class resources to students, as well as having the ability to reorganize our resources and modify the way we deliver information. And I can work on them off-site. I love the tagging function & am looking forward to linking them to delicious & getting student feedback*. Which should be very instructive, and hopefully won't require much moderation :)

Hopefully....

*Unfortunately, this cannot take the form of a smiley scale.

Free Book/Author Selection Tools

2010-01-24T18:29:00.004-06:00

Register & provide an email, put in a list of books you've read & liked and What Should I Read Next? will help you find other books & authors that you might also like.

Whichbook uses a set of sliding scales between opposing concepts that allows you to indicate how much of a given quality you wish to have (happy/sad, gentle/violent, easy/demanding) in your reading and provides a list of books which contain the element(s) you have chosen.

Book Army is a social networking tool for readers. You can write reviews, share book lists and communicate with other book lovers.

(adapted from Kevin Purdy's Top 10 Tools for Better Reading Online & Off )

Abraham Lincoln Award Book Trailers

2010-01-22T12:41:00.039-06:00

Our new Head Librarian Christi Shaner and a few other High School librarians (including former GBS Instructional Technology Coordinator, Pamela Pleviak) have made some really cool book trailers for some of the Abe Lincoln Award titles with animoto (which I have just started to play with--easy & fun).

Check them out--they're really cool.

And there's more (and even more to come):

Inexcusable

Look Me in the Eye

Pride of Baghdad

Rooftop

I <3 the National Film Board of Canada on Twitter

2010-01-09T11:14:00.005-06:00

I can't tell you how much I'm loving the wide array of wonderful free resources that I'm finding online. The National Film Board of Canada's website (which I posted about in May) just keeps getting better and better. Because I follow them on Twitter, I was introduced to this delightful gem of a short film about literacy and reading. It's a pleasure to watch and because the NFB gives everyone access to their wonderful collection for free (and have an incredibly well-reviewed iPhone app), I could see it being used very effectively by both public & school libraries.
I can attest to the fact that my 4 & 6 year old children *loved* it and were particularly excited about the Indian music used for the soundtrack.

Yeah, I know it's not exactly for a HS audience (though fun for any age, imo), but I think it's a great example of the kind of stuff that I hope educators and librarians are taking advantage of (both the NFB page and using Twitter to enhance their work).

The Girl Who Hated Books: This animated short about literacy introduces us to Meena, a young girl who hates book even though her parents love to read. Books are everywhere in Meena's house, in cupboards, drawers and even piled up on the stairs. Still, she refuses to even open one up. But when her cat Max accidentally knocks down a huge stack, pandemonium ensues and nothing is ever the same again...

Why are bad reviews so much more fun to read than good ones?

2010-01-04T15:38:00.003-06:00

Librarians often advise readers on books--most often, we tend to recommend books we ourselves have read and enjoyed and think patrons will like, or that we find on book lists compiled by professional organizations, or have read favorable reviews about in professional resources. We sometimes even make out own lists of the recommended books. However, I often find negative reviews of books (and film, for that matter) more fun to read than positive ones. It's a pleasure to read a very well-written pan of a piece of overblown literature, especially if it's written by a well-known author. Having found Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love an especially irritating read, I found Janet Maslin's scathingly funny review of Gilbert's newest book, Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace With Marriage in the New York Times particularly enjoyable. Even if you enjoy Gilbert's earlier work, it is a very funny, well-written piece.

Seriously. Read it. You'll like it.

5 cool resources I learned about via Twitter

2010-01-02T16:02:00.000-06:00

Kitchen God and His Wives (Upper Section),
with Prosperity God (Lower Section), Qing dynasty
Unidentified printshop in Shandong Province
Woodblock print on paper
35 x 28 cm
© A. E. Maia do Amara

I know that twitter is sometimes associated with marketing campaigns and Ashton Kutcher, but I've found it to be an incredibly helpful resource for finding out about terrific resources for students and teachers, as well as a powerful professional development tool. So, for my first post of 2010, I'd like to share 5 really great learning resources I've used in 2009 and have shared with others that I only found out about because I'm on Twitter.

The BBC Archive
"Take a trip through our collective past with the BBC archives and discover themed collections of radio and TV programmes, documents and photographs.
Explore who we are and see how attitudes have changed over the years through selections from an archive which began over 70 years ago."

Open Thinking Wiki: Digital Storytelling (compiled by Alec Couros)
A thorough overview of the uses digital storytelling and a fantastic list of digital storytelling resources.

Asia for Educators: Columbia University
"An initiative of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University, Asia for Educators (AFE) is designed to serve faculty and students in world history, culture, geography, art, and literature at the undergraduate and pre-college levels." This site really rocks!

Top Ten Psychology Videos (compiled by Psych Central)
"Cognitive to clinical to social, the many applications of psychology reveal profound thoughts, human frailties and strengths. These are some of the best results, framed in video players."

Trailblazing: Three and a Half Centuries of Royal Society Publish ing
"Welcome to Trailblazing, an interactive timeline for everybody with an interest in science. Compiled by scientists, science communicators and historians – and co-ordinated by Professor Michael Thompson FRS – it celebrates three and a half centuries of scientific endeavour and has been launched to commemorate the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary in 2010.

Trailblazing is a user-friendly, ‘explore-at-your-own-pace’, virtual journey through science. It showcases sixty fascinating and inspiring articles selected from an archive of more than 60,000 published by the Royal Society between 1665 and 2010."

Digital Comic Collection

2009-12-17T14:28:00.000-06:00

Oh my, is this cool! Government comics collected, archived & cataloged by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln!

Here's an article about the project: 'Perfect storm' pushes librarian to compile government comics collection.

National Gaming Day @ Your Library

2009-11-13T14:20:00.002-06:00

Okay, so we're not even open on National Gaming Day @ your library (it's Sat. the 14th of November), and our district Acceptable Use policy prohibits video games on our network, but I again feel compelled to note that I think it's really cool that libraries are promoting games & gaming and recognizing the fact that gaming is a great way to reach teens (especially boys).

So I was a bit disappointed to see that the official site for the event doesn't actually address much about gaming, except in a Q & A format, and that it doesn't link to sites that people who like games might get into, such as Kotaku or Gametrailers or Joystiq. Perhaps that's because they didn't want kids looking at footage of Modern Warfare 2 linked from their ALA site, which is understandable. But at the same time, it kind of erodes their street cred. And no, I don't have a satisfactory answer, except possibly Destructoid, which I think it a bit tamer than Kotaku. And here's a terrific site for primary source research/graphics: The Arcade Flyer Archive.

Happy 40th Birthday, Sesame Street!! / How not to do a Reference Interview

2009-11-11T20:24:00.002-06:00

To celebrate Sesame Street's 40th anniversary, I've posted an excellent clip of Cookie Monster visiting the library. And lest anyone think I'm being clever by doing so, this is a shameless ripoff of Andy W 's posting of it.

And for the record, I want to say that this is hopefully *not* indicative of the sort of service we give our fine patrons.

Way more than flaming melons & skateboarding accidents

2009-11-02T21:46:00.005-06:00

I've been familiar with YouTubeEDU and the TED Talks for a while, but I've recently been exploring other educational streaming video offerings. I just discovered some really cool resources, including the Indianapolis Museum of Art's channel on YouTube.

In honor of Hello Kitty's 35th birthday, I've linked a talk by author Ben Belson called "Hello Kitty: The Global Brand with Nine Lives."

Hello Kitty, pop culture & global marketing--what could be a better way to spend 30 minutes?

Even if you're not a big Sanrio fan, the way institutions are starting to make their programming available to anyone with broadband access is really exciting. The Indianapolis Museum of Art's channel has several other offerings (including Japanese & Chinese calligraphy demonstrations and a video showing how a Renaissance piece is restored).

While you're on YouTube, check out these other great resources--so much more enriching than watching ideas *not* worth spreading.

ScienCentral ("Making sense of science. Check these videos out if you want to know more about the world around you. ")

BBCEarth Channel

The Smithsonian Channel

The Museum of Modern Art's MoMA Video

The Japanese Culture & History Channel

I barely watch TV anymore unless it's a sporting event (e.g., the World Series as I type)...and offerings like these will make TV an even less likely event for me.

Geeky & Cool: Periodic Table of Comic Books

2009-10-20T12:08:00.000-05:00

Created by a couple of chemistry professors at the University of Kentucky. Lots of fun, delightfully geeky and an excellent example of Fair Use. Thanks to Marie Slim from the Troy High School Library for sharing on Twitter.

Periodic Table of Comic Books

Fun avatar generators

2009-10-12T21:47:00.004-05:00

Cool slideshow with fun avatar generators:

Creating Characters

View more presentations from S. Hendy.

I am a sucker for avatar generators. I had a *really* good time using the Otaku avatar generator to make the little characters in the Information Literacy game. I also like using them for representational purposes online (as evidenced by my profile picture). Maybe if I photographed better I wouldn't enjoy playing with them as much as I do, but thank goodness that I have found a number of good ones that I can use to create more charming and attractive versions of myself.

Banned Books Week

2009-09-28T17:59:00.002-05:00

This is Banned Books Week. In light of the recent events surrounding author Ellen Hopkins, whose Manifesto poem was written for this year's BBW, librarians have been made very aware of the importance of intellectual freedom in libraries and schools.

From the American Library Association website:
Banned Books Week (BBW): Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where the freedom to express oneself and the freedom to choose what opinions and viewpoints to consume are both met.

Abraham Lincoln Awards

2009-09-05T08:33:00.006-05:00

It's time to start selecting books for the 2010 Abraham Lincoln High School Readers' Choice Awards. We have a display of the nominated titles up in the Library, so please stop by and check them out. If you read at least four of the books on the list, you are eligible to vote for your top pick in March.

Click here for an annotated list of the 2010 Abe Lincoln titles (PDF)
Here is a list of Abe Readalikes if you can't get enough of a particular book or genre :) (PDF)

Amazon, Yahoo & Microsoft Teaming Up Against Google

2009-08-30T21:58:00.002-05:00

Not sure how I missed this (it was published 8/21), but these "tech giants" are teaming up with the non-profit Internet Archive's Open Book Alliance to stop Google from monopolizing the online book market. Meanwhile, the Justice Department is investigating whether Google's digitization project violates anti-trust laws. In addition, privacy advocates (including the American Library Association) are concerned that users' privacy might be negatively affected. Wow. So many issues:

Read the BBC article that explains all it all here.

Burnham Plan 100

2009-08-10T15:57:00.003-05:00

It's the centennial of Daniel Burnham's Plan of Chicago. Check out the fantastic website that commemorates it.

Burnham Plan Centennial

GBS Information Literacy Game is here

2009-08-07T10:51:00.012-05:00

I finally finished adapting the game. I'm looking forward to using it with the Freshmen when the term starts (just a few weeks away).

Many thanks to John Casey for his help with some troublesome technical issues.

Also, a big thank-you to Scott Rice (one of the co-creators of the original Information Literacy Game) for taking the time to look at our game and write a script that makes the T/F questions look much cleaner (totally unsolicited--how kind was that?).

Here it is, if you want to give it a go:
GBS Information Literacy Game

Important note: It works *way* better in Firefox. Don't know why....

BookGlutton

2009-07-15T20:55:00.011-05:00

I found out about this from our fabulous reading specialist, Tara Braverman. BookGlutton lets you chat about books while reading them. It's like those little 3M tape flags & post-it notes to myself that I used to use when I was doing anthropology research--only you can share them with others. Unfortunately, it's still pretty limited in scope--essentially public domain stuff with a few exceptions, but I think it's a great idea. I saw some interesting comments on Alice in Wonderland and Pride and Prejudice. Unfortunately for me, I did not enjoy the experience of reading Austen on a laptop as much as I would have hoped--I can't imagine reading the whole novel that way. Perhaps with Reader such as Kindle it would be different (not that this capability currently exists, but I can't imagine it will be too long in coming). I wonder how younger people would feel about this. Maybe it's just that I'm too Gen X :)

Blogging and the Future of Communication

2009-07-06T09:53:00.007-05:00

Salon has just published an excerpt from a new book by it's co-founder, Scott Rosenberg on the transformational nature of the blogosphere [def. not *this* one in particular :)], Say Everything: How Blogging Began, What It's Becoming, and Why It Matters .

Looks like a winner.

Must put in my "to buy" cart.

Web 2.0 and the future of Journalism

2009-06-24T12:29:00.010-05:00

Much has been made of the role of Twitter in Iran in the aftermath of the June 12th elections. Unquestionably, the use of Twitter & blogging has been essential in getting out information about what is happening in Tehran, as traditional media outlets are not able to cover the events. So traditional news outlets, such as the venerated New York Times are relying on these individuals who are blogging and tweeting to get information and disseminate it via their websites.

This reliance on bloggers and Twitter users to get news out of Tehran has coincided with my own discovery of an award winning independent news website, Truthdig, that has some very impressive journalism.

In the meantime, the Chicago Tribune & the Sun Times are in Chapter 11.

Where is all of this heading?

Summer Reading

2009-06-21T12:29:00.012-05:00

This is the second year of GBS' Summer Reading Program and I am very much looking forward to participating again. I had a really memorable discussion about Warriors Don't Cry with the students and faculty in our group last year. It's a very powerful, well-written memoir. I can't imagine reading it and not being moved by Melba Pattillo Beals' courage and strength, particularly given her youth. I'm looking forward to reading and discussing it again this year with a new group of students.

Speaking of powerful reads--another book I'm reading--which I got from the GBS Library's Paperback Exchange Cart, by the way--is War is a Force that Gives us Meaning by veteran war correspondent Chris Hedges. It's an incredibly profound book. I don't think I can do it justice, so I've included this review from the New York Times.

Viral Culture

2009-06-10T12:14:00.006-05:00

*Fascinating* interview in Salon with Bill Wasik, the guy who created the flash mob (in addition to working as an editor at Harper's). He speaks of viral culture & it's impact on our society--how "nanostories" like the Susan Boyle phenomenon have affected our ability to view things in a broader context.

Read it here.

And he's got a book, too: And Then There's This: How Stories Live and Die in Viral Culture

Def. putting that one in my "to buy" pile!

Google Wave

2009-05-29T12:25:00.008-05:00

Our Coordinator of Instructional Technology, David Jakes, very recently told us about Google Wave.

He's a *lot* more technically savvy than I am with this stuff, and he is *way* excited about it. Because I'm not anywhere near as knowledgeable about web 2.0 applications as he is, I have to admit, I'm not quite sure what to make of it. But Ryan Bretag, his counterpart at GBN has discovered a nice guide from Mashable to this innovative new tool, which I will share with you: Google Wave: a Complete Guide

Young Adult Eating-Disorder Literature

2009-05-13T10:56:00.003-05:00

I was really interested to read a blog post from Tara Parker-Pope on the New York Times website that talks about the inherent problem of literature that deals with eating disorders potentially (inadvertently) promoting it. I had heard about the "pro-ana" websites and chat rooms before, but I hadn't really thought about the impact of YA literature specifically.

Here's a link to Parker-Pope's blog post.

Wikipedia 1 , Journalism 0

2009-05-12T09:58:00.010-05:00

I was amused but not terribly surprised to see that an Irish student was able to dupe media outlets by altering a Wikipedia article on composer Maurice Jarre by inserting a really schlocky fake quotation from Jarre. The quotation was specifically crafted to attract media outlets reporting on his death. Wikipedia caught the fraudulent statement quickly, as it was made without attribution and done almost immediately after the composer's death. But not quickly enough to keep the Guardian and other sources from looking *really* stupid.

Here's a link to the story from Macleans.

Here's a link to the Guardian readers' editor, Siobhain Butterworth's take on the incident.

Free Movies from Canada & Elsewhere

2009-05-06T09:34:00.006-05:00

Got this idea from Joyce Valenza, who linked to snagfilms, a free documentary resource. But after seeing an excellent documentary on professional wrestler Bret Hart, I wanted to share the National Film Board Of Canada's wonderful website, which is *full* of high-quality video.

Update 5/22/09: Joyce Valenza is the biz! She just blogged about PBS Video's new web site/ film database. Very cool!

NLW Favorite Books

2009-04-20T12:13:00.012-05:00

We have our contest winners--I won't post their names here :) But they will be posted in the school announcements. However, this does provide an opportunity to highlight the books that students submitted as their favorites:

The Alchemist by Paolo Cohelo

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Demian by Herman Hesse

Eye of Horus by Carol Thurman

Firefly Lane by Kristen Hannah

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Innocent Man by John Grisham

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

Persistence of Memory by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Watchmen by Alan Moore; illustrated by Dave Gibbons

National Library Week

2009-04-13T09:39:00.006-05:00

It's National Library Week. Yay! The GBS Library is celebrating with our ever-popular jelly bean contest, favorite book contest, and a scavenger-hunt/trivia contest. Stop by the library and see what we have going on! You could win a Borders' gift certificate....

Ready or Not--New MLA

2009-03-25T14:38:00.008-05:00

I'm not really sure that I'm ready for new changes in the newest edition of the MLA Handbook. We're not implementing them until the next school year, so that gives me a little lead time :) .

Joyce Valenza has just blogged on this topic, so I won't bore anyone (myself included) with the details here, but it looks like a combination of some very positive changes (no longer requiring writers to document the library from which they access subscription databases--yay! That is *such* a drag) and some less impressive ones (optional URLs? Not very practical for high school students and teachers--but optional sure beats eliminated...).

Anyway, here's the Purdue OWL's overview of the upcoming changes.

It will be interesting to see how quickly the database vendors change their citation content to reflect these developments.....

Glenbrook Institute Day

2009-03-02T11:33:00.011-06:00

The institute day is only 1/2 over, and I already feel like posting about it. David Warlick was the keynote speaker. Inventing the incredible useful Citation Machine would have made him cool enough, in my book, but in addition, he is a very fine speaker. I was very impressed with his approach to teaching in the 21st century--focusing on skills rather than technology, per se. I think a lot of other educators believe the same thing but perhaps aren't as articulate (or engaging).

And he had a really gorgeous, really effective power point presentation, which unfortunately is all too rare, even with experienced presenters.

As a librarian, I was particularly interested in his assertion that one of the major components of literacy has to be evaluation of information. I felt it really drove home what I've been trying to share with students & teachers (and why). Having said that, I wonder if anyone else noticed the obvious library/information literacy tie-in ;).

Here's a link to David Warlick's blog.

Also, I enjoyed seeing the teachers playing Rock Band in the (beautiful) GBN lobby. Nice to see one's colleagues as "people".

Happy Birthday Abe and Charles!

2009-02-08T12:12:00.023-06:00

Have you happened to notice lots of newspaper and magazine articles about Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin recently? By coincidence these two influential men share the same birthday and February 12, 2009 is the bicentennial of their birth. Check out the Darwin Day Celebration website for a countdown to February 12th and an introduction to his ideas on evolution and natural selection.

On display in the GBS Library are a selection of books on Darwin and Lincoln. Included is a new illustrated edition of The Origin of Species. This year also marks the 150 year anniversary of the publication of this important work.

One book that I just finished reading is The Reluctant Mr. Darwin by David Quammen. It is a short and very readable biography of Charles Darwin that begins with his life after Beagle voyages. In a witty and somewhat casual style, Quammen provides an understanding of Darwin as a family man and husband. He details the numerous scientific projects that Darwin worked on after he formulated his theory, but before publishing it in his land mark work, The Origin of Species. Also included is an overview of the content of The Origin of Species and the response to Darwin's ideas.

More books have been published about Lincoln than any other American. New books in the GBS Library include: Abraham Lincoln: Great American Historians on our Sixteenth President by Brian Lamb. Read a book or browse the Lincoln Bicentennial to learn more about our most famous Illinois politician.

Gaming, Libraries and Acceptable Use

2009-02-02T11:28:00.011-06:00

Lots of libraries are promoting gaming, especially public libraries . There are articles, blogs, wikis, and at least one annual symposium dedicated to this fairly recent phenomenon. But we at the GBS Library can't and don't permit gaming. All students & staff sign an Acceptable Use Policy that states that they will not use the school's network for "frivolous purposes", including gaming.

But I've just found the coolest thing. Librarians at University of North Carolina at Greensboro have designed a game that teaches Information Literacy.

And they allow, even encourage other libraries to modify and use the game in their own Information Literacy programs, which is even cooler.

But will this violate the AUP?

I hope not, because I think this could make Freshman Library Orientation a lot more fun....

How I learned to stop worrying and love (well, sort of) Wikipedia

2009-01-21T20:53:00.013-06:00

Well, I don't exactly *love* it, but it can be a terrific resource for researching a lot of areas, especially popular culture. There are some topics that other conventional reference sources simply don't cover in that much detail, such as television programs and video games, among *many* others.

Certainly, the fact that anyone can edit the articles means that people with strong viewpoints on specific topics can and do use it as a platform for their agendas (see the Women in Islam article and the Scientology article, for example).

But as I mentioned above, it's a great resource for information on popular culture, as these very well-sourced and well written articles on the Montreal Screwjob incident (an event in professional wrestling in which the World Wrestling Federation defending champion was double crossed and lost his title) and the popular animal drama Meerkat Manor clearly demonstrate.

When using Wikipedia, it's always important to look at the discussion tab to help you assess the quality of the article, even if there are no obvious problems with it.

Avoid any articles with symbols like these in them:
This one shows that the article's neutrality is being assessed.

This one is used to signify a host of problems, including lack of citations or reading like a fan site.

Carleton College's library has created a guide to using Wikipedia that is very informative.

The Reader, Revolutionary Road & Kate Winslet's awesomeness

2009-01-16T09:34:00.003-06:00

This year's big Golden Globe winner was Kate Winslet. Interestingly, both of the roles she won for, Revolutionary Road (Best Actress) and The Reader (Best Supporting Actress), were in films that were adapted from books.

The Reader. Bernhard Schlink. Pantheon Books, 1997.

"Michael Berg, 15, is on his way home from high school in post-World War II Germany when he becomes ill and is befriended by a woman who takes him home. When he recovers from hepatitis many weeks later, he dutifully takes the 40-year-old Hanna flowers in appreciation, and the two become lovers. The relationship, at first purely physical, deepens when Hanna takes an interest in the young man's education, insisting that he study hard and attend classes. Soon, meetings take on a more meaningful routine in which after lovemaking Michael reads aloud from the German classics. There are hints of Hanna's darker side: one inexplicable moment of violence over a minor misunderstanding, and the fact that the boy knows nothing of her life other than that she collects tickets on the streetcar. Content with their arrangement, Michael is only too willing to overlook Hanna's secrets. She leaves the city abruptly and mysteriously, and he does not see her again until, as a law student, he sits in on her case when she is being tried as a Nazi criminal. Only then does it become clear that Hanna is illiterate and her inability to read and her false pride have contributed to her crime and will affect her sentencing. The theme of good versus evil and the question of moral responsibility are eloquently presented in this spare coming-of-age story that's sure to inspire questions and passionate discussion. " Jackie Gropman, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA.

Revolutionary Road. Richard Yates. Knopf. Reprint, 2000.

"So much nonsense has been written on suburban life and mores that it comes as a considerable shock to read a book by someone who seems to have his own ideas on the subject and who pursues them relentlessly to the bitter end," said Library Journal's reviewer (LJ 2/1/61) of this novel of unhappy life in the burbs. It is reminiscent of the popular film American Beauty in its depiction of white-collar life as fraught with discontent. Others have picked up on this theme since, but Yates remains a solid read.

Richard Ford has written a wonderful review of the book and its impact in the New York Times Book Review (2000).

The Reader is currently available at the GBS Library and Revolutionary Road will be arriving soon.

Glenbrook South Library

Facebook & College Admissions

Can you guess the six novels these famous opening lines are from?

Banned Books Week Virtual Read Out

Access My Library School Edition

Book Buddies--Glenview Public Library

National Library Week

Unity Junior High School Library Adapts the GBS Library Information Literacy Game 2.0

20 Ways to Teach About the Disaster in Japan Across the Curriculum (New York Times)

Seuss Week Video

Smart People Use Smart Libraries

Seuss Week is Here Again!

Here be Kindles

Macho Man Randy Savage in the Library

Access My Library

Make your own information literacy game--ISLMA conference presentation

GBS Library's Virtual Reference is here!

QR codes in libraries

Learning with Infographics

Almost time.....

Stephen Fry: What I Wish I'd Known When I Was 18

Wikipedia FAQ for librarians

Data shows kids shouldn't multitask

Study of Young Adults' Trust of Online Content

I can has new book?

Neil Gaiman on Libraries

Lincoln Award 2011

National Library Week

Guys Read

Abe Lincoln Award Books (2011)

Texts Without Context

5 cool resources I found on Twitter recently

Green Day!

Not Just for Kids! Dr. Seuss as Political Cartoonist

Seuss Week Cometh!

LibGuides are here (sort of)

Free Book/Author Selection Tools

Abraham Lincoln Award Book Trailers

I <3 the National Film Board of Canada on Twitter

Why are bad reviews so much more fun to read than good ones?

5 cool resources I learned about via Twitter

Digital Comic Collection

National Gaming Day @ Your Library

Happy 40th Birthday, Sesame Street!! / How *not* to do a Reference Interview

*Way* more than flaming melons & skateboarding accidents

Geeky & Cool: Periodic Table of Comic Books

Fun avatar generators

Banned Books Week

Abraham Lincoln Awards

Amazon, Yahoo & Microsoft Teaming Up Against Google

Burnham Plan 100

GBS Information Literacy Game is here

BookGlutton

Blogging and the Future of Communication

Web 2.0 and the future of Journalism

Summer Reading

Viral Culture

Google Wave

Young Adult Eating-Disorder Literature

Wikipedia 1 , Journalism 0

Free Movies from Canada & Elsewhere

NLW Favorite Books

National Library Week

Ready or Not--New MLA

Glenbrook Institute Day

Happy Birthday Abe and Charles!

Gaming, Libraries and Acceptable Use

How I learned to stop worrying and love (well, sort of) Wikipedia

The Reader, Revolutionary Road & Kate Winslet's awesomeness

Happy 40th Birthday, Sesame Street!! / How not to do a Reference Interview

Way more than flaming melons & skateboarding accidents