Google like a Genius

I am always amazed and fascinated by how students can sit in front of a computer to research information for their assignments, spend a whole lesson there and find absolutely nothing that they can use.  

Every so often I get a few who complain that "there's nothing there, Miss, I can't do this" and then look totally stunned when I find what they need in a few minutes ... and it isn't because I'm older and smarter than they are!  

I just know a few more tricks to use on Google to make it do what I want. (They do say that old age and cunning will always beat youth and skill)

So I have included a few links below with hints and tips for conning Google into providing what you need, when you need it.  While I am fairly sure that most of you already know these hints, it may be helpful to pass it onto your students ... after all, one less reason for not being able to complete something.  

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/the-35-best-google-search-tips-and-tricks/

http://epictutorials.com/top-10-google-search-tips/

http://visual.ly/10-tips-search-pro-using-google

And of course, there is always the tried and true Boolean searching method.  I have talked about that in a previous post, but it is always a good start.  

Curation Tools and Ideas

Curation - What the heck is that??  And doesn't curation therefore need a curator? Well, yes it does.

So ... following on down that path - what’s a curator? Not exactly what you might think.  In today's world, curation is no longer a job for tweedy professors, carefully arranging flint arrowheads by size.  Today, online curation is a matter of speedy, selective contextualising. It’s more than just collecting content, it’s a matter of giving the chosen content added meaning, along with a reason to have been selected in the first place.

Out of a fast-flowing river of news and information, "curators are the zen-like bears, sitting amid the chaos, selectively plucking out the juiciest, shiniest salmon and then explaining which bits to eat." (From Storyful.com)

Brought down to the shiniest brass tacks, curation is the collection, storing, sorting and dissemination of information.  You find it, you store it in a safe place (that you won't forget), you sort it into something suitable to use with your class and then you share it with them to use for their studies.  

Below are a few free on-line curation tools you may like to consider as a 'safe place' to store 'your stuff'.  Rather like a online version of a vertical file, for those of us who can remember back that far.  Have a look, see what you think.  

*  Clipix :    https://www.clipix.com

*  LiveBinders :    http://www.livebinders.com/

*  Scoop.it :   http://www.scoop.it/

TV4ED, LMS and Holiday break.

The new LMS system is running quite well - although keeping the student data up to date is an 'interesting' exercise. However, so far, we are on top of it and all is good.

The trial period for the new TV4ED plus has been extended, so I am hoping that you manage to get an hour or so to give it a whirl during the holidays - although I do realise that is probably a bit unfair - asking you to work on our last short break before Term 4.  
So, on that note - I'll just wish you a VERY relaxing, albeit very short break and hope you make the most of it doing as you wish.

Aside from that - just carry on being your awesome selves as always.

New LMS is Go Live!

Well, finally the day is here.  Our new Library Management system in the Northern Territory  is actually Go Live in the schools.

I have made my first student loan using the system and all worked as it should.  (Phew!)  We have a little bit of a work-around at the moment due to some student data - but it's not making much of a difference.

Now comes the real learning - as this becomes the everyday system.  It's a little sad after 20 years of using Virtua - but this system more aptly reflects the global aspect of libraries in today's world.

Trial Period for TV4ED

Well, this week sees us start a 2 week trial period on using the new version of TV4ED, with all it's bells and whistles.  Hopefully, it will save you all much valuable time and effort in searching for the right resources for your classes.  

I know it already saves me a massive amount of time - I don't have to tape the program, then re-tape it while cutting out the ads and then prepare the DVD case - while doing the rest of whatever I do as well.  I can't imagine not having it!

Please make the time to log on, search, add and just generally play with the system - and let us know what you think.  If anyone is interested, I can try and organise a Webinar training? If you have any questions, come and talk to me - I am still learning my way around the new version,  but I do at least have phone numbers to call and ask questions. Remember - it should be available on any device, any time, anywhere.  If you can access a browser, you should be able to access this system. 

I know some have been playing - I have seen new stuff added to the 'bookshelf'.  

Aside from that,  have an awesome weekend folks.

New Library Management System update

Well all our bibliographic data came across with just 1 error, which has now been fixed .. and they let me fix it!!  (I'm not too sure if it was because they really trusted me to do it - or they wanted to see just how badly I could stuff it up.)  All good though!

As predicted, there were problems with the transfer of the Patron data and very few of the students are on the system as yet.  I have added all staff myself but we are waiting on the upload of the students minimal information to allow them to borrow.  

Most of the schools are in the same boat - which from my point of view is a GOOD thing - because it means it wasn't something that I did - or didn't do - that slowed it all down.  
If all goes well, we could be operational by the beginning of next week.

Mrs Squires has also been added as an Admin user, so she will be able to use the Circulation section if I am not available.  Thank you Kirsteen for agreeing to do this.

If anyone has any queries about the new system, please don't hesitate to ask - hopefully I will have an answer for you.

Term 3 and a new LMS!

Welcome back to term 3 - week 1 done and dusted!  And it has been a pretty good week it seems.

The main highlight, if that's the right definition, has been the testing of our area of the new Library Management System (LMS).  

 There doesn't appear to be too many problems with how the data has come across - and the few errors we found have already been corrected as far as I can see.  
It is now down to the Patron data - and I can see us hitting the Go-Live date with all borrowers blocked.  However, I shouldn't think we will be alone in that situation.

Still more testing to happen next week and then we should get a good idea of where it all stands.  

Enjoy our last Public Holiday for the year along with the Desert Harmony Festival.  Check out the Multicultural Event on Sunday, with lots of performances and some awesome food - take Monday nice and cruisy and then back to normal Tuesday.  

Holiday Break coming up!!

Thank you for all your resource returns, and patience with my grouchiness. 

Next term will see a new Library Management System in operation, which should be miles better than our poor 20 year system that battles along with us every week - so the start back will be BUSY!

Enjoy a lovely, relaxing break - and don't forget to include LOADS of recreational reading.  It lowers the blood pressure, calms the mind - and, well it's just good for you.  Snuggle up with a blanket, hot chocolate and just forget about everything for a while.  The real world will come knocking on your door soon enough, so make the most of it.

See you all back next term

Something to ponder

Every so often the conversation about reading levels for students pops up again and whether or not this is a good way to teach children to read.  

My personal opinion is that - in an ideal world, which, of course we aren't - that being encouraged to read for pleasure, and reading things that interest them, is going to get them on board far more than trying to hit some target number of books.

However, check out the link below for more thoughts and opinions on the matter from people probably more qualified than myself.  

 https://theconversation.com/how-should-reading-be-taught-in-schools-61361

Australian Futures Project: My Big Idea

Through an email from another Librarian, I came across the 'My Big Idea' challenge - which is part of the Australian Futures project.  This is a nationwide ideas competition, which is focused on creating positive change for Australia - within our communities and with our hopes and ideals. 

Their hope is to foster a culture of ideas and action, build capability in the communities and to instil a sense of possibility for all Australians.

Is there something you - or your students - are passionate about?  And you think you know what it would take to make it awesome? 

Then check out the link below and get involved. 

https://australianfutures.org/my-big-idea/

Australian History as Fiction

Another new title for our shelves - this one is part of the My Australian Story series which are historical novels for older children.  Each book is written in the style of a fictional diary of a young person living during an important time period or an event that happened during Australian history.  

We already have a number on the shelves, dealing with subjects such as Ballarat goldfields, Bombing of Darwin, Cyclone Tracy and this new one is about the Snowy River Scheme.


Blurb:
Eva Fischer has moved to Cabramurra, the highest town in Australia. Eva feels on top of the world too. Surrounded by people of every nationality, Eva makes new friends and tries strange foreign food - such as pizza. Eva learns to ski and ride, and even learns that being half German isn't so bad after all. But all around her, momentous things are happening. The Snowy Mountains Scheme is underway, huge dams have been built, tunnels constructed, homes abandoned, people lost...

 They are a great series, well written and suck you into the story.  Well worth a read.

Another new title

Another resource gracing our display shelves at the moment which has been generating a lot of browsing time with the students, is a non-fiction title written in picture book style.  It is about the creatures who live in our Australian deserts and how they have adapted to survive comfortably in these temperatures.  (See the blurb below)

The author, a former teacher, has lived in the Arctic all her life - such a totally different lifestyle to what she is writing about here.  Her passion for nature inspired her to start writing nature books for young readers, which fuse gentle narratives with incredible facts about the natural world.

Travel to one of the hottest places in the world, and discover the amazing animals who call the desert home. Meet the unique creatures of the Australian desert, from the Sand Goanna and Red Kangaroo, and find out just how these incredible creatures have adapted to survive in temperatures as high as 40 degrees! Packed with fantastic illustrations which beautifully depict these animals and their desert habitat, this title will captivate, amaze and inform readers.

New titles in the Library

I am often surprised how quickly time slips away - you get busier than usual and then whoosh - here you are nearly 6 weeks later and no new posts.  And it isn't as if nothing has been happening either ... Sports Day, PD Day and so on.

We have had a few new titles arrive in the Library, which are all now processed and on display ready to be borrowed.  A couple of these were requests from the students - if bitterly complaining that the next in the series they are reading wasn't available could be called a request.  (I chose to see it as such)

Ghost in the Billabong: by Jackie French
 This is the fifth title in her historical fiction series which is loosely based around the song 'Waltzing Maltilda' and follows the lives of a family through from the 1800s.  
In this book, hippies wear beads, demonstrators march against the Vietnam War, and the world waits to see the first human steps on the moon's surface. But at Gibbers Creek, Jed Kelly sees ghosts, from the past and future, at the Drinkwater billabong where long ago the swaggie leaped to his defiant death. But is seventeen-year-old Jed a con artist or a survivor? When she turns up at Drinkwater Station claiming to be the great-granddaughter of Matilda Thompson's dying husband, Jed clearly has secrets.  Set during the turbulence of the late 1960s, this was a time when brilliant and little-known endeavours saw Australia play a vital role in Neil Armstrong's 'one giant leap for mankind' on that first unforgettable moon walk.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 3: by Jeff Kinney
 Let’s face it: Greg Heffley will never change his wimpy ways. Somebody just needs to explain that to Greg’s father. You see, Frank Heffley actually thinks he can get his son to toughen up, and he enlists Greg in organized sports and other "manly” endeavors. Of course, Greg is easily able to sidestep his father’s efforts to change him. But when Greg’s dad threatens to send him to military academy, Greg realizes he has to shape up . . . or get shipped out.


Wool: by Hugh Howey 
 'Wool' is another of the dystopian books that the students seem to love and is billed as the 'next Hunger Games'.
 In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo.
Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies.
To live, you must follow the rules. But some don't. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism.
Their punishment is simple and deadly. They are allowed outside.
Jules is one of these people. 
She may well be the last. 

 These are available and ready for loan now so come on in and have a browse.  Lots more stuff here to catch your attention, I promise.