Google Librarian Newsletter

Google is working hard to get our attention these days. I have been a subscriber to the Google Librarian Newsletter since its inception last year. Sometimes it's worthwhile to look over what they are promoting. Today in the new Google Librarian Blog I read about making a customizable Google search engine. I created it successfully for the Jr. Theme topic of immigration, using some of the websites that we promote for this topic, such as the Library of Congress site. I was able to insert the java script to this blog. It produces relevant results when the keyword search is thoughtful. With the help of the webmaster I was able to insert that code into our Immigration webpage on the New Trier Library site. Different code is used for sites that are not hosted by Google. See the customized Google search engine at the top left and give it a spin.

Northern Illinois Computing Educators Mini-Conference

Reminder to all you northern suburban Chicago teachers and librarians--please consider attending the NICE mini-conference on January 27, 2007 at Maple School in Northbrook, IL--registration is free 8:30am-9:30am. Many exciting presentations will introduce you to the world of web 2.0.

Edublog Awards 2006

I found reading the featured blogs of the 2006 Edublog Awards very interesting. The winner of "Best Research Paper" Nancy White says... "As we expose our thinking to each other online, as we learn together, we enrich each other in ways that truly is amazing. Thank you for listening, for responding, for posting, for thinking out loud with me. Special thanks to all of the other winners, who are in my “inspiration pool.”
I think Nancy hit it on the head when she refers to exposing ourselves and thinking aloud online.
At first it seems scary and weird but after awhile, I find it no different than emailing a friend. One of my best resources for digging around the net and learning about blogs is the SupportBlogging site (wiki format).
It is actually a form of professional development than can be done on the fly anytime/anywhere learning. I love it.

Judy Gressel

Feedblitz-- A killer app

Feedblitz provides a painless way to get blog content into an email inbox. I setup an email delivery capability for my blog about 5 minutes. It's slightly confusing but worthwhile doing because anytime your blog is updated, your readers will be notified. They won't have to remember to check their aggregator.

Keyword Builder - Library Instruction Wiki

The Keyword Builder is a useful tool for illustrating how concepts and synonyms can be combined with Boolean terms AND and OR to create search queries for library catalogs and article databases. It was created by North Carolina State University Libraries. Try it with students and link it to class assignment pathfinders.

K-12 Library Blogs

Here is a list of K-12 library blogs. Some have student contributors who post book reviews; others are managed only by librarians.

A-Z NEW & NOTABLE WEB SITES

The December, 2006 Internet Resources Newsletter has a nice feature on New & Notable Websites. Check it out!.