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Posted by Brian Kenney on July 21, 2008
As I mentioned, I was out at Kent State the other week visitng Carolyn Brodie, Greg Byerly and some of the other folks in the SLIS program. Last time I was there I got to visit their usability lab, which uses high-tech software to measure eye movements as you browse the web--the lab has been used by a number of vendors and libraries in developing products. This trip I got to see something equally cool but completely different: the Marantz Collection. This is a picture book collection of over 21,000 volumes that the school received back in 2007. It was developed over the past 40 years by Kenneth and Sylvia Marantz, and I think goes right up to the present. Kenneth is professor emeritus of...Read More
Posted by Brian Kenney on July 11, 2008
God knows every other bookish editor has already held forth on the Kindle. So here's my belated take on Amazon's reading machine. This week I traveled to Cleveland (off to interview the wonderful Carolyn Brodie who won the Scholastic Library Publishing Award--more on that later). Yes, it's just a 63 minute flight. But between the playful nature of the airline industry and the freakish nature of the weather, there's no telling whether that 63 minutes to Cleveland will turn into seven hours in Buffalo. So I did what you probably do. I packed a bag of books. And it's got to be a mix: mysteries (subgenres too e...Read More
Posted by Brian Kenney on July 9, 2008
Have you heard of 23 Things, the self-guided program for learning about 2.0 web technology? It was developed by Helene Blowers a couple of years ago at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County and since then has been adopted across the country by public and school libraries, districts, and even entire states. It consists of a number of "things," or small exercises, that you do online to expand your knowledge of the 2.0 web and social networking, from blogs and podcasts to wikis and Twitter.For a while now (and prodded by our Technology Editor, Kathy Ishizuka) I've realized it would be a great idea if all of us here at SLJ went through a "23 Things" like experience. After all, we are always writing ...Read More
Posted by Brian Kenney on July 7, 2008
OK, I'm back. Just couldn't find my password to get into this thing.One of the best parts of being an editor is the email. Seriously! You just never know what's going to sail into your inbox. Case in point: "Killing Me Softly: No Child Left Behind," an essay by author and (now former) teacher Jordan Sonnenblick. Certainly we've all heard--and many of us have made--similar arguments against NCLB. But Jordan's piece, told from such a personal perspective, made for an especially powerful case. It had drama. I rushed to get it into the magazine and onto the web, where it became one of our most popular articles. It was also picked up by a number of blogs, including ...Read More
Posted by Brian Kenney on July 16, 2007
How often have you heard that....or said it yourself? Well, a press release just crossed my desk that just might help solve the problem. Marshall Cavendish has announced a new line of books, Marshall Cavendish Classics, that will "bring a select number of out-of-print titles from all publishers back into print. We are intetested in titles that have received awards, have enjoyed starred reviews, or have with stood the test of time in story hour."So there you have. The ball's in your court. Get your suggestions over to Marilyn Mark, Associate Editor of Children's Books at mmark@marshallcavendish.com It will be interesing to see what they end up publishing. We here at SLJ are trying to keep up with new editions and reissues ourselves and have launched a new column, "Fresh Approaches, " in...Read More
Posted by Brian Kenney on June 23, 2007
Wow! Marie is showing a nine minute transaction that is pretty scary. Lots of misunderstandings and lack of clarification on the part of the reference librarian. But the good news is that 75 percent do clarify the question. Fifty percent did ask: "Did this completely ask your question." Also, forty-five percent sought topic clarification, 31 percent wanted background (when is your paper due?), and more. Users also clarify, like through background (I'm in seventh graade and have 30 minutes.) Twenty percent clarify depth (I nee...Read More
Posted by Brian Kenney on June 23, 2007
Next up is Drexel's Laurie Bonnici & FSU's Lynne Watson who looked at other places where college students engage in research--the third place, like coffee houses. This study was exploratory, based on qualitative data, and asked how student behavior was different in a library versus a coffee house. It was based on observation and a web-based survey. Guess what? At the coffee house, consumption was the major activity, where at the library the computer was the major activity. At both, study was the second leading behavior. In both places the students were all wired up: iPod, phones, notebooks. The students "looked the same" in both venues. As for generational considerations, the largest percentage were Millenials, or "digital natives." The question is, can the coffee house replace the library for this generation? Is the idea of the libr...Read More
Posted by Brian Kenney on June 23, 2007
Posted by Brian Kenney on June 19, 2007
Does anyone remember when we had just one blogger at SLJ: poor, lonely Amy? And bad enough that she was the only one, we stuck her off on some page where even I couldn't find her half the time. Well thankfully Amy stuck in there. So when we had a chance to redesign our site--and it prominently featured bloggers--I was delighted. I made it my mission to convince some of the writers in our field who I most respected (and always read) to take a risk and come join slj.com. I hoped to create a family of bloggers that would represent everything that SLJ is about: books, learning, technology, education (not that these are mutually exclusive.) And with the addition this month of Betsy, Joyce, and Marc we're finally there. What's next? It wo...Read More
Posted by Brian Kenney on June 15, 2007
While I love to hear from our readers, I'm not all that keen when they're just cursing me out. Which is what's been happening all this week, due to the "bouncing" pop-up ad from Little, Brown. I too, like Roger Sutton, have delicate nerves and find it as annoying as an advertisement can be (and that includes the glued inserts that destroy the accompanying page when you try and remove them.) But unlike the Horn, we accept advertising, which means we need to figure out how to work with online advertisers. So let's get a few things straight.
Posted by Brian Kenney on June 13, 2007
I've really been hitting the road this month, travelling more than I normally like. But there have been some good opportunities and I hate to pass them up. Lat week I was in Charleston, WV (first trip to WV, wow, is it beautiful) to sit in on a meeting of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. I've always been fascinated with the Partnership, but never really understood what they were all about. The members are mainly big technology companies (Adobe, Dell, and from our world Thomson Gale). AASL is one of the few non-profit members and its executive director, Julie Walker, is an active participant. The partnership's focus is on cores subjects (as defined by NCLB), 21st century content (like global awareness, finan...Read More Industries: Professional Development
Posted by Brian Kenney on June 3, 2007
Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. It's the mantra in the school library community. The idea is that when school librarians and classroom teachers work together, it is a "good thing." But who, exactly, is it good for? And in what ways? The "Multiple Faces of Collaboration" was the topic of a research symposium recently held at Kent State University and jointly sponsored by Rutgers' CISSL and Kent State's ILILE that dove into this question from a variety of perspectives.The highlight of the event was a presentation by Rutgers' Ross Todd on the qualtitive study on the experience of instructional collaboration. The study excamined 170 lib...Read More
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