Type in anything that interests you into PubMed’s free database access and spend some blissful time pouring through academic full text articles that are free for anyone on a computer.

Google Reader – using an RSS reader is liking hooking yourself up to a information IV and you pick what sites go in the bag. Seriously, why waste your time, get your list of headlines and go from there. GoogleReader’s science bundle was a fun place to start for me, finally a way to access the latest science article for free from a variety of sources.

Use Delicious.com to bookmark all your favs (add a tag to make them searchable). This makes expanding your horizon online feasible, retrievable, organizable from any computer.

Write your docs on GoogleDocs and they will back it up for you. For me it is very helpful to access all the folders of docs from anywhere.

Great tool for training and answering reference questions – Jing allows you to create a short video of your mouse moving on your computer screen and gives you a URL to paste; 2 gigs are free, and there are plenty of other options.

Lastly pandora.com will create and play ad-free “radio” stations for you – great way to expand your music enjoyment.

One of our articles for a library class I’m taking mentions LibraryThing and having heard of it before, off I went to make a visit. Well I lost a lot of my weekend finding it pretty addictive and wanting to upload more and more of my library and using “power edit” to add metadata to multiple books at a time, looking at other peoples libraries of people who had books I had, reading their reviews, writing reviews, it was a blast. It was like a little book party.

Last Friday someone asked if I knew of a book about drawing, well I thought yes I have a lot of them and yet none of the names or titles were popping out at me, if I had been able to log on to LibraryThing, voila. Now I can do this and hopefully put links on blogs pointing to my library within LibraryThing.

Whenever you are not near your entire library you can access it, in some way. If you lose books for whatever reason, you still have a record.

Reference others suggestions about similiar books, communicate with others.

You get to add private or public comments like I really like this chapter or this thing about this book or its index is terrible, there is a favorite recipe on p.129; so years later it is all right there for you.

Wiki has some great info on LibraryThing and how fast it has grown, its working with OCLC, cooperative metadata generation, etc.

Some libraries have widgets on their sites linking you to LibraryThing.

It has many social networking features.
It is free, however after putting in ~150 books I decided to pay the little bit for a lifetime membership in order to be allowed to have over 200 books catalogued.

Wow, I just rediscovered some .gov sites via the Library of Congress. From there you click on Librarians and then Digital Reference and then Virtual Reference Desk. Talk about a wow list, link farm fun; especially scroll all the way to the bottom to:

“Other Reference Sites
Librarians’ Internet Index (Very Comprehensive) “

That is where the real fun begins…the complete list looks like this:

Librarians’ Internet Index (Very Comprehensive)

* Alcove 9: An Annotated List of Reference Websites (Library of Congress, Main Reading Room)
* Homework Center by Info Please
* Internet Public Library Reference Center
* Internet Resources From the Learning Page (Library of Congress-Great for Educators)
* LibrarySpot
* Refdesk
* Research Tools
* Today in History (Library of Congress)
* WWW Virtual Library
* Xrefer (that is really called “Credo” now)

Take a minute to click on each link; it is quite a list.

I always knew it lay out there something this beautiful, ah. What are librarian’s favorite spots to sun themselves…don’t forget to click on the heading of the list too “Librarians’ Internet Index” that is a link too! YIKS and a big thanks to librarians.

And go the the college library for the (expensive for them-most likely free for you) database access. Here is a sample cost for a very large University:
In 2005-2006

Current Serials (ongoing) – $6,629,327
Electronic serials – $2,836,208

Word is in Library school right now there appears to be a trend. Because larger schools are charged more for their database subscriptions, smaller schools get more for less and sometimes even have more databases. However most any college library will do, consider the reality that large schools have had to drop key databases to save money.

The point is go use those databases they are excellent. Yesterday I had the happy experience of finding an awesome NPR radio show I had heard a while ago via Lexis Nexis, it was so simple once I knew to go there, I could text search the transcript, so all I needed was a rough time frame of when I first heard it (the past few months) and some meta. Has that ever happened to you where you are listening to a talk show on the car radio and months later you really want to hear that show, well it is not so hard to find it as you might think with Lexis Nexis.

National Institute on Aging.

http://www.nia.nih.gov/

“The United States is on the brink of a longevity revolution. By 2030, the number of older Americans will have more than doubled to 70 million, or one in every five Americans.”

http://www.cdc.gov/aging/

women’s health

http://www.4women.gov/OWH/

http://www.4women.gov/search/siteresults.cfm?criteria=older+women&x=0&y=0&searchtype=site

http://www.4woman.gov/ow/

http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.asp?docID=536011

http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/women/

labor

http://www.dol.gov/wb/factsheets/Qf-olderworkers55.htm

aging

http://www.aoa.gov/prof/notes/notes_older_women.asp

UK’s

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Over50s/Over50HealthAndWellBeing/LookingAfterYourself/DG_10026836

Australia’s

http://www.women.gov.au/

Transportation and Mobility

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/olddrive/nscrpt.html

Income

http://www.aarp.org/research/socialsecurity/benefits/dd126_women.html

Policy

http://www.women.vic.gov.au/CA256EAE0012F311/Womens%20Policy/Read+Our+Publications

CENSUS:

http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/age.html#elderly

Census

http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/censr-19.pdf

OWL Older Women’s League

http://www.owl-national.org/factSheets/poverty.html

Safe and Active

http://www.women.qld.gov.au/?id=1456

ALA’s Website

http://www.ala.org/ala/olos/outreachresource/servicesolder.htm

Google Scholar

Libraries pay to subscribe to databases and other information resources for their users. Some pay more and acquire more than others. For example if you are the lucky owner of a Milwaukee Public Library Card you get tons more than…well really I think it is fair to say any other city in Wisconsin. Academic libraries are the serious bomb of database licenses, if you are taking a college class you can be in really good shape for access. However if you have no idea you now get for example free Consumer Reports or how to get to it than there you are stuck like most of us.

It is unnerving to think of companies grabbing and owning information. It reminds me of a company trying to own a patent to a gene or water or something. Some information, like government sponsored research is paid for by all and yet there are websites ready to convince you that you will have to pay them to get to free government research. I digress.

This is a site to direct librarians on how to negotiate the best deal for a license: http://www.library.yale.edu/~llicense/index.shtml

Jane Pearlmutter has this to say,
“When licensing online resources, consider joining a consortium. A consortium is basically a buying club, which may include libraries within your school district or state. The most obvious benefit of consortial licensing is, of course, the discounts, which can be quite deep.

How deep? Here’s an example from my state. As a result of consortial licensing, Wisconsin’s libraries, schools, colleges, and other Internet service providers have access to BadgerLink, a full-text database of 4,000 magazines and journals, 28 national and regional newspapers, 13 state newspapers, 1,000 health pamphlets, and several other databases. Contracts with the vendors of the magazine indexes EBSCOHost and UMI’s ProQuest Direct allow the state to offer this wide range of resources to all of these information agencies. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has estimated that the cost of providing these resources to schools and libraries on an individual (rather than a group) basis would be $50 million. How much does the consortium pay? $2.1 million! That’s more than a 95-percent savings. At last count, 17 states were providing similar services. ” Library Journal Source

Ask your local librarian what and how you get with your card/code from home or any computer.

ALA reports:
“And Tango Makes Three” tops ALA’s 2006 list
of most challenged books

From Wikipedia we have the book awards for And Tango Makes Three:

And Tango Makes Three has received several national book awards. In 2006 it was named an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book. It received the APCSA’s Henry Bergh Award and the Gustavus Myer Outstanding Book Award. It was named a Nick Jr. Family Magazine Best Book of the Year, a Bank Street Best Book of the Year, a Cooperative Children’s Book Council Choice, and a CBC/NCSS Notable Social Studies Trade Book.Tango was also a finalist for the 2006 Lambda Literary Award.

and examples of censorship around the book:
” * In Shiloh, Illinois, some parents of students at Shiloh Elementary School requested in November 2006 that the book be placed in a restricted section of the library and for the school to consider that students have parental permission prior to checking the book out. The school superintendent resolved instead to keep the book available to all students.[2]

* In Missouri, parents had the book moved to the school library’s non-fiction section.[1]

* In Charlotte, North Carolina, the superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Peter Gorman, ordered the book removed from school libraries on December 20, 2006. Gorman agreed to let a committee review the decision due to concerns that the policy on banning books was not followed.[3]“

Here is an editorial review from the School Library Journal.
“PreSchool-Grade 3-This tale based on a true story about a charming penguin family living in New York City’s Central Park Zoo will capture the hearts of penguin lovers everywhere. Roy and Silo, two male penguins, are “a little bit different.” They cuddle and share a nest like the other penguin couples, and when all the others start hatching eggs, they want to be parents, too. Determined and hopeful, they bring an egg-shaped rock back to their nest and proceed to start caring for it. They have little luck, until a watchful zookeeper decides they deserve a chance at having their own family and gives them an egg in need of nurturing. The dedicated and enthusiastic fathers do a great job of hatching their funny and adorable daughter, and the three can still be seen at the zoo today. Done in soft watercolors, the illustrations set the tone for this uplifting story, and readers will find it hard to resist the penguins’ comical expressions. The well-designed pages perfectly marry words and pictures, allowing readers to savor each illustration. An author’s note provides more information about Roy, Silo, Tango, and other chinstrap penguins. This joyful story about the meaning of family is a must for any library.”-Julie Roach, Watertown Free Public Library, MA

Here is the ALA’s interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights with respect to sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

What does that say about our community, that this book tops ALA’s 2006 list
of most challenged books?

Just take a peak at the books that have been banned, everything from Little Red Riding Hood to the Bible.

Banned Books Online
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html Banned Books Week (2007)

American Library Association http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm

The Most Challenged Books (American Library Association) http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/100mostfrequently.htm

Office of Intellectual Freedon http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=oif

Where does this motivation for censorship come from? And how do we face it?
When you look at the history of the books that have been banned and even the recent ALA’s list of books most challenged, it really begins to look like a whim of fancy. Popularity comes and goes like the wind, it is unpredictable and there doesn’t on the surface appear to be much reason behind it. So to start basing decisions that affect a collection because one person raises their hand with a problem can be so unjust. Yet I can see how it happens, it isn’t fun to have someone confront you on something. Another interesting thing is that it is easier to judge, it is much more difficult to see the good. So the person who comes up to you to criticize a choice may be adding an extra mask covering up the fifteen people who were really glad to see the material who did not speak up about it. And really where is the protocol for that? Does that even get recorded when you get the compliments? Does that go to committee too?

Censorship occurs when people in a community are driven by fear of trusting others and this idea that it is both possible and good to make vanish what is not like you or your ideals. I think it also has to do with people seeing people in general as innately bad versus trusting people are essentially good. Anyway the problem is, it really isn’t good for a community to squelch ideas and differences, that stifles growth and conversation and action. To this day we can see a city’s health and growth reflected by its prioritizing inclusive protocols and embracing cultures. The problem comes I think when people don’t want to think and seeing someone different from them may make them think or rethink and that can become extremely threatening to people so they choose to pretend everything is like they imagine it.

Fundamentalism can happen within any religion and at its core is the proposition that “the problem” is that you are asking why or wanting to know, not that you don’t know.

Has anyone had people complaining to where you just decide that you are just not going to make everyone happy and you just have to come to terms with that is the way it is going to be, at least let me do what I know is right?

The Federal Communications Commission held the first of six public hearings on Media Ownership proceeding on Tuesday October 3, 2006 in Los Angeles & El Segundo California.

I found them very interesting and educational and at times entertaining to hear. You can hear personal testimonies from actors, writers, directors, etc. about how corporate conglomerate takeovers have lost jobs and quality and content and voices, it is very much hearing the inside scoop on how and what has really been effected and is being effected. Listen to the hearings.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/

http://www.libraryjournal.com/

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/

http://www.criticasmagazine.com/

http://www.mcreview.com/

http://www.choicereviews.org/rev190choicescripts/

http://www.ala.org/ala/booklist/booklist.htm

http://www.romantictimes.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/

http://www.kirkusreviews.com/kirkusreviews/index.jsp

Related links:

http://www.fcc.gov/ownership/hearing-california100306.html

http://www.michaelcrichton.net/next/press.html

http://coanews.org/

http://stopbigmedia.com/

http://www.nowfoundation.org/issues/communications/fcc/fcc_comments06.html

http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&q=women+ownership+of+media+.gov&btnG=Search

http://www.wimnonline.org/WIMNsVoicesBlog/?p=302

http://www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=168

http://www.pbs.org/

Here are the numbers from a U.S. government document.

This report is very simply written and the format makes the conclusions immediately available.

On a happier note, you may wish to read this Publishers Weekly article on Chicago’s thriving book scene.

See Tom Branton interviewed on The Colbert Report, so far I haven’t got the url for it, so you may just have to google it.

Tom Branton works at the the National Security Archives which is a non governmental essentially watchdog with a mission based on the idea that if they don’t know we are watching they will do awful things. Obviously that is an oversimplification of the problem of power coming to rule absolutely. They are making use of the Freedom of Information Act to get their information.

Anyway while the video really isn’t that brilliant it inspired me to finally get this blog on.