Keeping up with Technology

I agree with Jenny Levine's latest post Keeping Up When You Don't Have the Time about the value of reading blogs to stay abreast of all that's happening in the tech world even if you're not "a techie". Jenny Levine's presentation at ISLMA was terrific; she author of The Shifted Librarian blog, a site that helps librarians understand the impact of ubiquitous, always-on Internet on our the library profession. If you set up an account with Bloglines, you simply check it once a week or so to track all the blogs you subscribe to. I generally don't have time during the school day for this; I generally catch up on the weekends and then it's easier to concentrate and read at a leisurely pace. I like ResourceShelf and the reports found at the Pew Research Center which are not devoted exclusively to schools or librarian work. Levine also recommends The SirsiDynix Institute Blog. I checked out Word to the Wise, a list of library technology words to help you stay up to date on the latest technology buzzwords surrounding the library industry. Sign up to receive a new Word to the Wise in your e-mail inbox every week. You can also Subscribe to the SirsiDynix Institute podcast feed and receive automatic downloads of the audio portion of each Institute seminar (in mp3 format). The archives are also full of informational programs in pdf format and podcast which can educate you about web 2.0, mashups, social bookmarking, Firefox, gaming and more.