Web 2.0 Week at WMRLS ~ Today: WebNotes

At the recent WMRLS Reference Roundtable on January 14, Christopher Franks, Librarian of the High School of Commerce, Springfield shared highlights of  WebNotes .  "WebNotes is more a single user tool, but it offers various means for sharing annotated sites which could be valuable for reference services."

Says Christopher, "I use it with my high school classes and gave a presentation on it, and social bookmarking, at the Health Care Pathways Conference in November 2009.

View Christopher's presentation on What is Web 2.0? and what can it offer educators?

2011 MBLC Legislative Agenda

Posted to the ALLREGIONS email discussion list on Janurary 21, 2010:

The 2011 MBLC Legislative Agenda is available on the agency’s website: http://mblc.state.ma.us/mblc/legislative/leg-agenda.pdf

Also available is a PDF version that prints (double-sided) on 11 x 17 paper which folds in half to make the agenda one sheet. Please let me know if you would like me to email you this version.

~ Celeste Bruno,. Communications Specialist, Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, 98 North Washington Street, Boston, MA 02114; 617-725-1860 x208; 800-952-7403 (in state); Fax: 617-725-0210; celeste.bruno@state.ma.us; www.mass.gov/mblc

Mt. Holyoke College Library hosts "Harry Potter's World"

Mount Holyoke College Library, Information, and Technology Services (LITS) is pleased to announce the opening of a new exhibition, Harry Potter's World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine on Thursday, January 28, 2010 in the Williston Library Court. The traveling exhibition was organized by the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. The exhibition tour is coordinated by the American Library Association Public Programs Office, Chicago.

Harry Potter's World uses materials from the National Library of Medicine's History of Medicine collections to explore Harry Potter's world, its roots in Renaissance science and the ethical questions that affected not only the wizards in J.K. Rowling's books, but also the historical thinkers featured in the series.

LITS has partnered with the Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies, and the South Hadley Public Library to sponsor a wonderful list of events, such as, concerts, lectures, and book discussions that will be held during the exhibit (January 28 - February 26, 2010). In addition, Archives and Special Collections will be displaying an exhibit, Magic at Mount Holyoke: An Exhibition of Primary Sources from Archives, Art Museum, Botanic Garden, Biology and Geology Departments, during the month with rare and unique treasures drawn from Mount Holyoke's own collections, bewitching images of science and sorcery, of plants and potions, of creatures and monsters and mysteries from the natural world will be on display. The complete list is available on the website at http://www.mtholyoke.edu/go/harrypotter

If you would like more details about the exhibit, including information about visiting the exhibit, please email mailto:harrypotter-exhibit@mtholyoke.edu

Thank you for your time and we hope you'll be able to visit the exhibition and help us spread the word!

Respectfully, Leigh Mantle, Reference Librarian, Research and Instructional Support Library, Information and Technology Services, Mount Holyoke College,  South Hadley

Web 2.0 Week at WMRLS ~ Today: Facebook

Wikipedia defines Facebook as "...a social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves."

Karen Demers, Adult Services Librarian, Wilbraham Public Library says "We are fairly new to using this, but we use it as another way to promote Library Events.  Our profile was originally created by our former Teen Librarian, so our first batch of fans had been mostly high school students."

Springfield City Library's Book Group Makes the News!

Janet Stupak, Community Relations Coordinator, Springfield City Library, writes a monthly column for The Republican that appears in Neighborhoods Plus section of the paper. Posted below are a few lines from today's issue:

"Book group opens hearts and minds
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
What's on your mind as you head off to the airport to catch your plane?

Something like, do I have my toothbrush, bathing suit and sweater? Not so for Paula Nelson, who told me "I have literally rushed here with a suitcase in my car on the way to the airport. This is my favorite thing! I wouldn't want to miss anything." She may pick up a book to read on her trip, but on that particular Wednesday she drove to the Central Library to attend the meeting of the Wednesday Book Group." Read more about it ...

Web 2.0 Week at WMRLS ~ Today: Meebo

Wikipedia defines Meebo as "... a browser instant messaging program which supports multiple IM services, including Yahoo! Messenger, .NET Messenger Service, AIM, ICQ, MySpaceIM, Facebook Chat and XMPP."

The Greenfield Public Library uses Meebo to offer live chat assistance to our patrons when the Information Desk is staffed.  We answer reference questions, renew materials, provide instruction, etc.  Our patrons can access our chat service through several different IM sites and through the widget on our homepage. ~ Jessica Pollock, Information Services Librarian, Greenfield Public Library

Web 2.0 Week at WMRLS ~ Today: Wordle & Simply Box

The Wiktionary defines Web 2.0 as "The second generation of the World Wide Web, especially the movement away from static webpages to dynamic and shareable content and social networking."  This week, the Western Massachusetts Regional Library System (WMRLS) will celebrate Web 2.0 applications as they apply to library service.

Today, we will take at look at the "More Than Word Art" tool, Wordle and the "web bookmarking tool for visual learners" SimplyBox via the archived session of our first WMRLS Continuing Education Coffee Break Session "Best Websites for Teaching and Learning".

Your invitation to view the archived session of our recent January 8 WMRLS CE Coffee Break Session on Best Websites for Teaching and Learning:

Name: WMRLS Classroom - 01/08/2010 10:00

URL: http://67.202.209.252/launcher.cgi?room=wmrls_classroom_2010_0108_1000_22
Room ID: wmrls_classroom
Name: [Enter your name}


~ Sincerely, Janet Eckert, WMRLS