Teaching Others to Use Library Media & Technology

 Hey!  I added the "Popular Posts" gadget!  I love to check this feature out when visiting a blog for the first time to get a feel for what the blog is about and what the readers find the most useful!  For fluency I moved the gadget from the sidebar to the footer section for a more reader friendly look!  The gadget list is full of so many helpful things to make a blog complete!  This has been such a fun project to work on!

 This was a great assignment to learn about all the available gadgets that can be added to our Blogger page. I chose to add the Total Page Views gadget. This gadget will give us a sense of how many times our site is being visited. I was surprised to see that at the time of this post, we are up to 417 views! Overtime this will grow, and it will be fun to utilize this gadget to track site hits.

I added the "Contact Us" gadget to the sidebar. This gadget is useful because it makes communication easier. Blog visitors will not need to open their own email accounts to compose a message --- they can do that right from the blog spot. The gadget is a particularly useful networking tool.

 I added the gadget followers.  It is nice to know who is following you and maybe what their interests might be. It was nice that blogger made it so easy to add a gadget!

  Followers Gadget by Emilce Sirkin I added the 'Followers' Gadget to our blog because I think it is important to know how many people are interesting in following our media content. 

  Library professionals face the challenges and embrace the opportunities of cloud technologies as they embark upon a new frontier of library services. Many libraries have been successful in moving to a cloud-based platform for daily operations that include managing records, acquisitions, collections, archives, and other information access services as well as all associated services that extend to patrons. There’s no question that the cloud has resulted in our libraries’ collective ability to collaborate and consolidate resources among networked libraries and use web access points in order to maintain a competitive edge in this day of easy electronic information access. But what new challenges do we faced when we operate in the cloud ? How do we stay abreast on the best practices in this fast-pasted changing E-age of cloud computing? In what ways can we best serve our library patrons? Cloud computing is in its infancy . Many library patrons are familiar with online information...

  According to the American Association of Libraries (ALA), there is a positive correlation between the number of certified librarians in a school and higher test scores among students, yet we see a trend: fewer librarians, lower funding, and higher students per librarian ratios (ALA, “State of America’s Libraries 2020”). How can schools support student success if libraries are taken out of the equation? Case and point: In California, the 2000-2001 academic school year reported ratios of one librarian to 4,306 students (1:4,306) as compared to 2014-2015 when the number of students per librarian increased to 7,187 – that’s about a 67% increase (“State of America’s Libraries 2020”). Another 2016 report published by PACE (Policy Analysis for California Education) compares California to the U.S. average: California with one librarian to 32,216 student ratio as compared to the U.S average of one librarian to 1,178 students ( edpolicyinca.org ). Funding in California is a complicated ...

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device . . . to the library) has offered n ew opportunities for libraries to remain relevant, competitive, and more viable than ever before. Many libraries are taking advantage of the BYOD movement, which inherently provides greater access to e-resources without the added burden of computer costs. But along with the benefits, there are added challenges that libraries must face.   Graham Walton is a credible source we can refer to when answering questions regarding the intersection of academic library technology and trends in BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) to the library. In his article “Will Smart Phones and Other Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) Dominate How Academic Library Services Are Developed and Delivered for the Foreseeable Future?” published in New Review of Academic Librarianship (2014), Walton uses data from 2007 to explore both the benefits and complications of the BYOD movement. While the data may seem a little dated in the context of today’s fas...