ALA Standards

Again from George.

Instruction librarians standards ALA
http://www.ala.org/ala/acrlbucket/is/newsacrl/proficiencies.pdf

Book synopses & review

The British Council has a rather well-structured site set up for Reading Groups/Book Clubs to select books so it is largely fiction but also has biography,drama & science and a section on fiction that can be used for the teaching of management! It may well be useful for us, especially as it also has books for children and teens. http://www.encompassculture.com/

Collection Management and information sources

Again George is keeping our interests in mind with these two sites. E-Reviews of resources etc...which may assist with discovering or evaluating 'new' resources.
http://www.e-streams.com/

And a site courtesy of the US National Library of Medicine, which has links to a number of sources of information for different kinds of library professionals, and also newsletters in special areas including 'medical'. Unfortunately, not all links are 'current' and may have to chased up via a search engine if they seem of potential use.
http://nnlm.gov/libinfo/mgmt/online.html

Access for all, to everything?

Did you see or hear about the ALIA prompted news articles on Internet use, and issues with filtering the Internet, in public libraries? ALIA has just completed their 2nd survey of internet use and management.
“Findings from ... 2005 survey showed over 77 000 people access internet services through public libraries each week,” “The survey revealed 2.2 per cent of complaints received by librarians were about internet content, and that covered all content issues, not just inappropriate material.” The Association’s survey also revealed many libraries deal with the special needs and interests of children by providing separate internet terminals and websites for children and young adults that link to resources especially tailored for them. ..“Filtering is not the answer,” said Ms Hutley (ALIA exec director). “The Australian library and information profession believes the current legislation relating to online content is appropriate and workable.” she said.
Survey results can be viewed at http://alia.org.au/advocacy/internet.access/ from 31 March 2006

Britannica bites back!

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v440/n7084/full/440582b.html
The definite comparison of Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica was by Nature. Obviously the open and free version of wikipedia is threatening EB!

Thanks George for continuing to contribute to the BLOG!