Friday, June 30, 2006

Searching Revisited: Horizontal, Vertical, Diagonal, etc.

A word about vertical (or deep), and horrizontal (or surface) Web?
Horizontal is an orientation relating to, or in parallel with the horizon, and the opposite of vertical. A horizontal line goes from left to right (or vice versa) where a vertical line goes from top to bottom.[source: Search.com]

And what are portals doing in this horizontal and vertical world:
Portals can be classified as either ‘horizontal’ or ‘vertical’; a horizontal portal caters to a general audience and provides a broad range of content and services; a vertical portal caters to a niche audience and provides more targeted offerings. [source]

On the Web, a vertical portal (sometimes called a vortal) is a Web site that provides a gateway or portal to information related to a particular industry such as health care, insurance, automobiles, or food manufacturing. (A vertical industry is one that is focused on a relatively narrow range of goods and services, whereas a horizontal industry is one that aims to produce a wide range of goods and services. Because most industry tends to specialize, most industry tends to be vertical.) A term that might also be used is interest community Web site since any vertical industry brings together people sharing an interest in buying, selling, or exchanging information about that particular industry. [source]

  • HotTopics: Annual Ad Spending Study 2006: Advertisers' Spending And Behaviors In Vertical Industries, Chuck Richard, In Outsell's Opinion
    The data in this study identify very strong differences in advertising spending and preferences for each vertical industry. Zero in on the findings for the verticals your advertisers are in, and arm your sales team, marketers, and product planners with the hot buttons and non-starters we have identified."

  • HotTopics: 2006 User Update - How Information Providers Can Keep Pace With User Demands For Time-Saving Solutions, Roger Strouse
    "Vertical search appears to be the wave of the future for professional needs, so build focused subsets of information catering to specific user populations. More is not better; more personalized is. And also realize that “vertical” might mean alignment by job function, industry, subject matter/topic, or other meaningful aggregations that don’t fit the traditional ways information has been assembled."

  • TrendAlert: Renewing, Recruiting, Refueling - Hiring And Developing Staff For Information Management Roles,, In Outsell's Opinion
    "Vibrant Information Management staff possess many and varied competencies, and traditional research or librarianship skills are probably already well represented. Make the new required competency the core hiring attribute, with traditional information professional skills as secondary attribute." Roger Strouse

  • Yahoo! Vertical-Horizontal Integration, Greg Sterling, Search Engine Journal, 7/22/2005
    put aside Yahoo!’s FUSE (Find, Use, Share, and Expand) strategy for the moment and look at what the company is doing with vertical and horizontal search (horizontal search being, well, search). Yahoo! recently launched a specialized Travel site to go along with its other vertical sites and content plays.

  • Vertical Search Is Really Horizontal, Recruiting.com, July 20, 2005
    If you go into Monster you can search jobs up and down the org chart in the Finance Sector. This is a vertical search.

  • The Search Matrix - Horizontal vs Vertical Search,
    a perspective on how horizontal and vertical seach are a part of a larger search matrix. interesting if google will ever cover all verticals.

  • Horizontal Search / think sideways, thinkerlog, tools for thought
  • The Multifile Multidisciplinary (Horizontal) Search Approach--Justification and Principles. Jacob Bar, Online Review v12 n1 p47-58 Feb 1988
    Discusses the rationale, principles, required tools, advantages, and disadvantages of the Multifile Multidisciplinary (Horizontal) Search approach to searching online databases. It is noted that this approach is characterized by the use of a large number of files spanning a wide variety of disciplines.

  • “horizontal search” initially, “vertical search” now, with when the “diagonal search”? by Didier DURAND, 4/24/2005 Translated version
    They was the beginnings of the horizontal search engines - “horizontal search engines” - where the objective was to collect a maximum of information - rather of raw data - on the pages of the Web in order to make it possible to the Net surfers to more easily find them by simple keywords...
    By the ultimate quality of information which it is judicious to produce, this diagonal research has a potential of valorization financiƩre enormous, much higher than the Pay-Per-Click keywords. [original source]
    Google is currently building what I personally call "diagonal search": i.e., a combination of horizontal and vertical searches (Gnews, upcoming Gase, ravel icons already given here on this blog, etc...) Source: a commnet by Didier DURAND in another blog

  • See also:
    Search 2.0 vs Traditional Search Written by Ebrahim Ezzy and edited by Richard MacManus. Ebrahim is lead developer and co-founder of Qelix Technologies, the company behind a search 2.0 contender called Qube. This 2-part series of posts is adapted from Ebrahim's research material in developing Qube.
  • Time Warner delves into hub market By Bloomberg News
    April 5, 1999,


    My previous post:
    Searching Is Polarized; Will The Five Laws Get a New Revised Version: Every Search Engine Its Searcher

  • Tuesday, June 27, 2006

    Open book exam: A method to assess learning outcomes

    "In an open book exam you are evaluated on understanding rather than recall and memorization." Source


  • HOW TO MAXIMISE PERFORMANCE IN OBEs, Centre for Development of Teaching & Learning, Singapore
  • Evan Golub, PCs in the Classroom & Open Book Exams
    "What are the motivations behind giving an open-book/open-notes exam? Does giving free access to all of the resources of the Internet conflict with these motivations?" source
  • Richard Brightwell1, Ms Janine-Helen Danie, and Dr Angus Stewart, Evaluation: is an open book examination easier? source
  • Sunday, June 25, 2006

    Promoting your grads: what all library schools should be doing

    This will be a running post: Updated 6 August, 2006


    Academic Librarians & jobs, by Lynn @ Hypothetically Speaking
    I just read an interesting article, actually was directed to it from the ACRLog, concerning the length of time often taken during a job search for academic librarians. Chronicle Careers posted the article titled Endless Searche on July 27, 2006. continue reading

    Promoting your grads: ... by Meredith, June 24th, 2006
    When I graduated from FSU with my MLIS, I didn’t come out of it with job searching tips, an alumni network or really any help of any kind in finding a job. The College of Information, as it is now called, wasn’t great with the mentoring, networking, support stuff. So when I saw the Prospectus 2006 from the School of Information Management at Dalhousie University a couple of months ago Keep reading

    Thanks Meredith for highlighting this issue. I think this has been a global problem. Library schools are now getting to understand that finding a job, or at least facilitating job search is a part of their package for survival.
    I call this success breeds success pheoomenon. That is, if your grads get appropriate jobs THEN, they would recommend your school. And, Spread the Good Word. Else, you will be close to follow the lead as most, acquisitions, mergers or closure... God forbid.***

    See also:
  • Recent library school graduates or soon-to-be graduates' Journal
  • Career Services Office, Graduate School of Library and Information University of Texas at Austin - School of Information
  • The Job Search and the Web, by Michael D. Brooks, ASSOCIATES (2006, March, v. 12, no. 3)

    ***Informatics buffaloed, Recording Confusion, Posted in Electronic Records, by Carlos, 06.22.06 details


    The Punch Line:
    "So on the one hand, graduate students are taught to believe that a nonacademic career is evidence of "failure." And on the other, the tightening of the job market means that many with stellar publications and teaching records will be unable to avoid "failure" by obtaining academic positions." [Continue reading Alexandra Lord details her efforts to help history PhDs get jobs outside of academe]
  • Thursday, June 22, 2006

    Searching Is Polarized; Will The Five Laws Get a New Revised Version: Every Search Engine Its Searcher

    This is a running post: Updated 2 Oct, 2006


    Is it all-ad-about polarization or an opportunity for libraries for re-invent the
    wheel. Read the following and don't miss a survey result: Library Catalogue Users Are Influenced by Trends in Web Searching, Susan Haigh

    Search Engines in 2006 are in news:
    Thus observes Karen Schneider in her discussion of Top 10 Tech Trends:

    Faceted Navigation – “any decent search engine for 2006 has faceted navigation.” Endecca as the example. source More on Faceted Navigation and Guided Navigation, see details


    As seen from a recently published work, cited at the end of this article, the demand for library-based Web resources is yet to catch up. "The survey findings indicate that 84 percent of information searches begin with a search engine. Library web sites were selected by just one percent of respondents as the source used to begin an information search."*

    Given this state-of-the-art of the library marketing and outreach, let us ponder on what is at stake. It looks like we are not sure of the problem:

    Polarization is obvious in this information age. But who is causing and who is facilitating this. Consider the following:

    i. Is the free Google-enabled search engine revolution leading the searchers to go astray (than be faithful customers of their own tax-based information centre); or
    ii. The fee-based and IP-based (restricted access) offered by the libraries to their own community resulting in this state-of-affairs; or
    iii. The libraries have not yet found the true meaning of every book its reader?

    And, a related question, then, is about a spirit of live and let live. I think the librarians will consider moving a recommendation for the following as a New Revised Library Liturgy. I hope they will take up, at least, this issue in their respective annual general meeting (wherever it is held):
    Search Engines are for Use,
    Every Searcher His / Her Search Engine,
    Every Search Engine its Searcher,
    Save the Time of the Searcher, and
    Search Engine is a growing organism.**

    I will deal with this polorization in another article. Or, will respond to your comments, based on how you see this whole picture.

    Let's now look at a terminological issues about this business of information searching.***

    What are the words that express this business?
    Supposing one says: online searching and database searching. Is it all about only one activity, viz., online search using the synchronous Web-based resources. Or, is it about first, searching the Web, and second, searching the library resources?

    Or, if some one says I am looking for a tool "illustrating the differences between online searching and using the library databases.." Are these terms clear, and communicative or confusing and vague?
    Libary of Congress Catalog has a title: online searching (1996).
    The subject headings assigned are:
    Information storage and retrieval systems--Science.
    Information storage and retrieval systems--Technology.
    Online bibliographic searching.
    Science--Databases.
    Technology--Databases.

    Another title: Online searching (1990):
    The subject headings are:
    Online bibliographic searching.
    Database searching.

    Yet another title: Searching the World Wide Web (1998):
    The subject headings are:
    Internet searching--Problems, exercises, etc.--Juvenile literature.
    Web search engines--Problems, exercises, etc.--Juvenile literature.

    In LISA database there is an article with a title: online searching
    And the subject headings is:
    Online searching
    [LISA does not have subject headings, such as, database searching, bibliographic searching, etc]

    Incidentally, there is more systematic debate going on on elsewhere and follow that as well.****

    Despite this problem with the terminology, I searched the Web for some comparative studies of these two worlds, viz., (a) free domain (WWW), and (b) whatever is facilitated by the libraries. In other words, a) search using the Internet; and b) search using the library-based tools.

    And, I have failed (despite Googling, Yahooing, MSNing, AltaVistaing, AllTheWebing, Lycosing, HotWireding, Exciting, etc.) to find any thing specific.

    In short, I am looking for a research work that compares online information search with searching the library databases. May be it is too much to expect audio, video, webcasting, blogging, wikiing, podcasting, etc. on this subject. If you know please guide me. I will cite you with personal gratitude.

    The Punch Line:
  • Paul Gandel. Libraries: Standing at the Wrong Platform, Waiting for the Wrong Train?, EDUCAUSE Review, (2005) Vol. 40, No. 6., pp. 10-1
  • A Word From the Guru
    Lest we forget, libraries had all the information at their disposal; and they did try to publish this collection in their own bookish style (Library Websites is a fashion tody). Is it ture that libraries forgot to index the contents, and published a book As-Is? May be. Then the Guru has a verdict for this scenario. Please Note.
    There is no greater authorial sin than releasing a book without an index. It should even be made an indictable offense. [S.R. Ranganathan in Library Book Selection] source:
    ALL THE "COOL QUOTES" FROM EX LIBRIS ABOUT LIBRARIES, BOOKS, AND KNOWLEDGE.


    --------------
    * Making “E” Visible, By Lesley Williams Library Journal, June 15, 2006
    Recently OCLC released “Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources” (www.oclc.org/reports/2005perceptions.htm), a survey of a representative sample of over 3300 online information consumers and their information-seeking behavior. The survey findings indicate that 84 percent of information searches begin with a search engine. Library web sites were selected by just one percent of respondents as the source used to begin an information search. Only two percent of college students start their search at a library web site. In fact, only 16 percent of respondents had ever used an online database and only 30 percent had ever used a library web site. Yet, 72 percent had used free search engines like Google. The report concludes, “…the majority of information seekers are not making much use of the array of electronic resources (online magazines, databases and reference assistance, for example) libraries make available to their communities.” Survey


    See also:
  • Finding Answers Beyond Web Search, By Gary Price, Guest Columnist, June 8, 2005
    PERSPECTIVE Sure, there is plenty of great content on the open Web, but it's far from "everything." Plus, even if what you're looking for has been crawled and indexed by Google or Yahoo, there is no guarantee that you'll create the proper search to have it appear at the top of the results page. To find what you are really looking for, all you need is a library card.
    Most searchers only look at the first page of results, and as large Web databases grow even larger it will become even more of a crap shoot to find what you're looking for by just entering a couple of words. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, for many searchers time is a massive issue. In other words, if they can't find it in a few minutes or even seconds, it might as well not exist. Sad but true.

  • **** Will Google’s Keyword Searching Eliminate the Need for LC Cataloging and Classification?, by Thomas Mann, This page was last updated on August 15, 2005.
    Google Print does not "change everything" regarding the need for professional cataloging and classification of books; its limitations make cataloging and classification even more important to researchers. Google’s keyword search mechanism, backed by the display of results in "relevance ranked" order, is expressly designed and optimized for quick information seeking rather than scholarship. Internet keyword searching does not provide scholars with the structured menus of research options, such as those in OPAC browse displays, that they need for overview perspectives on the book literature of their topics. Keyword searching fails to map the taxonomies that alert researchers to unanticipated aspects of their subjects. It fails to retrieve literature that uses keywords other than those the researcher can specify; it misses not only synonyms and variant phrases but also all relevant works in foreign languages. Searching by keywords is not the same as searching by conceptual categories. Google software fails especially to retrieve desired keywords in contexts segregated from the appearance of the same words in irrelevant contexts. As a consequence of the design limitations of the Google search interface, researchers cannot use Google to systematically recognize relevant books whose exact terminology they cannot specify in advance. Cataloging and classification, in contrast, do provide the recognition mechanisms that scholarship requires for systematic literature retrieval in book collections.

  • The Truth About Federated Searching
  • It’s Social Networks/Social Search for Web 2.0

    **My previous entries relating to the Five Laws:
    a) Save the Time of the Godly: Information Mediators Role in Promoting Spiritual & Religious Accommodation
    b) Case Studies from India: Evidence-based Librarianship
    c) The Reference Interview Through Asynchronous E-Mail and Synchronous Interactive Reference: Does It Save the Time of the Interviewee?
    d) Information Visualization: Innovative Practices to Connect Every Book, Its Reader, A Survey
    e) Every Book Its Reader - Ranganathan's Law Visualized

    ***apology for this trivia: words, words and words, all lost in the medium; it is all-ado-about searching, browsing, online, on-line, information storage, information retrieval, thesaurus, indexes, library databases, commercial databases in libraries, free versus fee, etc.
  • Wednesday, June 21, 2006

    With Malice Towards None; And Citations for All

    How many library technicians does it take to change a lightbulb?
    Seven. One to follow approved procedure, and six to review the procedure. (8 if you count the librarian they all report to)

    Three library-interest blogs [1, 2, 3], post this humorous quote on Library Technicians.

    My question is, how often do librarians cite the sight or insight they recieve from others? I ask this because, what you speak or write has its origin somewhere [I quote from a blog: "Not truly original ideas, of course -- you're lucky to be blessed with one or two of those in a lifetime, as Norman Mailer noted somewhere; just something -- the product of a reaction, perhaps, between a thought heard and a fact read -- that seemed to have a new and interesting configuration"]. This concept comes, I believe, has a Buddhist inspiration (I would appreciate if someone confirms this source).

    Incidentally, ONLY ONE Blog quotes the original source of the humor; and the source is IFLANET: Library Humour ... if we can't laugh at ourselves, who can?

    Bu the way, it is a fact, that it was the world of librarians and information scientists, who initiated studies about value of citations (including research methods such as, citation behavior, citation analysis, Scientometrics, Bibliometics, Infometrics, Impact factors, information seeking behavior, etc.).

  • Just-in-case you are in deep thiking about this subject of citations, see the following article: PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION THROUGH JOURNAL ARTICLES, by Maxine K. Rochester, 61st IFLA General Conference - Conference Proceedings - August 20-25, 1995. [Interestingly, the paper begins with a quote: A field's interest in its own scholarly communication is a sign of its maturity]. See also: Higher education as a maturing field? Evidence from referencing practices, by Robert J. Silverman. Research in Higher Education

  • Three options for citation tracking: Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science, by Nisa Bakkalbasi, et al, Biomedical Digital Libraries 2006, 3:7 doi:10.1186/1742-5581-3-7
    Abstract: Researchers turn to citation tracking to find the most influential articles for a particular topic and to see how often their own published papers are cited. For years researchers looking for this type of information had only one resource to consult: the Web of Science from Thomson Scientific. In 2004 two competitors emerged – Scopus from Elsevier and Google Scholar from Google. The research reported here uses citation analysis in an observational study examining these three databases; comparing citation counts for articles from two disciplines (oncology and condensed matter physics) and two years (1993 and 2003) to test the hypothesis that the different scholarly publication coverage provided by the three search tools will lead to different citation counts from each.


    When in doubt about a citing technique (or citing impact) ask the Guru, Eugene Garfield, Ph.D.
  • Sunday, June 18, 2006

    Teacher Resources or Resources for Educating the Educators

    The following is a list of selected resources. This list would help the teachers in their continuing education process, as well as in being abreast of whats up and new in the profession.

    Theory and Teaching Resources:

  • Study Guides and Strategies, by Joe Landsberger [revised June 02, 2006]
    The Study Guides and Strategies web site is authored, developed and maintained by Joe Landsberger as an educational public service. These student guides are collaboratively maintained across institutional and national boundaries, and last revised June 02, 2006 . Permission is granted to freely copy, adapt, and distribute individual Study Guides in print format in non-commercial educational settings that benefit learners. No request to link to the Web site is necessary. Please be aware that the Guides welcome, and are under, continuous review and revision. For that reason, reproduction of all content on the Internet can only be with permission through a licensed agreement.
  • Articles: Information & Technology
    About this source: Majority of the articles reproduced here are digests... These digests are in the public domain and may be freely distributed and reproduced...
  • Teaching & Teacher Education
    About this source: Majority of the articles reproduced here are digests... These digests are in the public domain and may be freely distributed and reproduced...
  • Online Teacher Resource
    About: As a web portal, TeAch-nology.com offers a wide variety of free resources intended to bring educators into the world of teaching with technology. It provides links to valuable and useful information relative to current and best practices in the field of education. A large variety of free classroom materials and support tools are also available.
    Note: here you will also find 'GENERATE-CONCEPT WEB' tool.
  • ERICDIGESTS.ORG
    This site provides one way to access the ERIC Digests (education articles) produced by the former ERIC Clearinghouse system.
  • Learning outcomes and instructional objectives: is there a difference? By: Harden, R.M.. Medical Teacher, Mar2002, Vol. 24 Issue 2, p151-155, [Centre for Medical Education, University of Dundee, UK. r.m.harden@dundee.ac.uk]
    Abstract: Learning outcomes are broad statements of what is achieved and assessed at the end of a course of study. The concept of learning outcomes and outcome-based education is high on today's education agenda. The idea has features in common with the move to instructional objectives which became fashionable in the 1960s, but which never had the impact on education practice that it merited.
  • ONLINE LEARNING THEORY RESOURCES
  • Learning Communities. Peer Mentor Handbook & Resources [pdf]
    2006- 2007
  • Brown University - King Faisal School Partnership Web Site. Education / Lesson Plans / Multicultural Resources for Preschool Teachers
  • Lesson Plans at LibraryInstruction.Com
  • The Lesson Plan Library offers kindergarten, elementary, middle school and high school lesson plans



    Practice (or hands-on-learning) Resources:
  • [ppt] Bibliographic Instruction, Mohamed Taher, 2005
  • [pdf] The Six A’s for Evaluating Web Content, Mohamed Taher, 2006
  • [ppt] Five Tips to Buy a Book, Mohamed Taher, 2006
  • [ppt] Blog As A Teaching Tool, Mohamed Taher, 2006
  • Paradigm Online Writing Assistant
    Paradigm is an interactive, menu-driven, online writer's guide and handbook written in HTML and distributed freely over the WWW. It uses hypertext structure to create a web of links and text frames that you can navigate quickly and easily by clicking your desired choice.
  • Classroom Assessment Techniques
    A word from the site: Classroom Assessment is a simple method faculty can use to collect feedback, early and often, on how well their students are learning what they are being taught. The purpose of classroom assessment is to provide faculty and students with information and insights needed to improve teaching effectiveness and learning quality.
  • Classroom Assessment, Sample Form: The Minute Paper
    About this technique: The Minute Paper is the single most commonly used classroom assessment technique.
  • Lesson Plan for Market Research
  • Lesson Plans - Points of View in the News
    Overview:This lesson will help students sort through the myriad points of view offered on the Internet and evaluate the sources and purposes of news articles and Web sites. Students will read articles from National Geographic News and answer questions describing each article's source, purpose, and viewpoint.
  • Lesson Plans at LibraryInstruction.Com
    This site contains library instruction lesson plans, articles about library instruction, a large library instruction bibliography, and links to library instruction resources. This site also includes material relating to information literacy.
  • Six Common Mistakes in Writing Lesson Plans (and what to do about them), Dr. Bob Kizlik, Updated May 3, 2006
    About: Successful teachers are invariably good planners and thinkers. They didn't get that way overnight. The road to success requires commitment and practice, especially of those skills involved in planning lessons, activities, and managing classroom behavior. Planning lessons is a fundamental skill all teachers must develop and hone, although implementation of this skill in actual teaching can, and usually does, take some time. Being able to develop an effective lesson plan format is a core skill for all who teach. So let's begin at the beginning.
  • TESL : Lesson Preparation Tools
  • TEACHING SIMULATION USING CASE STUDIES Proceedings of the 2000 Winter Simulation Conference
  • Tools for teaching simulation, integrating modelling and data analysis in teaching discrete event simulation
  • Presentation Resources
  • 'Fifty Writing Tools: What's in Store'. and the wandering woman writes:
    They are yours to peruse until July 1. In their place will appear something now: Writing Tools -- The Blog. I'll use the blog to discuss examples of the writing tools, both old and new, and to create new ways to guide and inspire writers. more from the Poynter Online

  • Library Of Congress Classification Lesson Plan
  • Tutorials for Library Research Courses
  • MARC TUTORIAL
  • Dublin Core Metadata Initiative Tools and Software
  • Knowledge Organization Interactive Lab
    Learning
    Cataloging rules 101
    MARC tutorial
    XML tutorial

    Minds-On-Activities:
  • see my previous post on this subject: Minds-On-Activities in Training Library Technicians
  • Quiz Lab
    a) Create your own online quizzes or select from our huge library of teacher-created quizzes
    b) Save time with automatic scoring and recording
    c) Assess and track student progress More Quiz guidelines, help, etc.
  • Using Simulations to Teach Negotiation: Pedagogical Theory and Practice MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program, The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
  • Creating Online Tutorials with Wink
    Online tutorials, aka Screencasting
    Wondering what, exactly, we're talking about? A screencast is worth a thousand words....Here are a few examples of screencasts, also called online tutorials.
    PubMed: Search for an Author (from the National Library of Medicine)
    Refworks Tutorials (from RefWorks)
    Benchmarking: Combining Author and Address Searching in Web of Science (from me)

    See also:
  • Online Tutorials - Information Literacy @ Google
  • Google: Teacher Resources and higher education.
  • Professional Education Sites
  • Recommended Reading Lists in Educational Technology (ET)
  • RateMyProfessors.com
  • Powerpoint bad for brains - Menace of slideware
  • Friday, June 16, 2006

    Minds-On-Activities in Training Library Technicians

    All Work and No Play Makes a Dull Librarian.***
    Hence, theory, hands-on-experience, practicals, and minds-on-activities must go together in order to make a full circle.
    Here are some Minds-On-Activities and related resources:
  • $ Lesson Planning: Icebreakers
  • $ IcebreakersIcebreakers: Ideas for Ice Breaker Games and Activities
  • Plagiarism: True or False Quiz
  • $ InfoQuiz 2005
  • $ Library Crossword
  • $ Crossword Puzzle on Library Lingo
  • $ Copyright Quiz
  • $ Are You a Librarian Test
  • $ Happyville Library Quiz
  • $ Library UT Quiz
  • $ Librarian Avengers Quiz
  • $ Are you a librarian? Take the quiz and find out
  • $ Quiz of a Librarian
  • Library of Congress Call Number QUIZ
  • Knowledge Organization Interactive Lab: Quizes and Exercises
    Quizes
    Concepts and DDC
    Descriptive Representation
    Reading MARC Records
    Exercises
    Dewey Decimal Classification

  • Google Blogsphere for more
  • Learn About Boosting Creativity @ learnstuff.com
  • Market Research - Mind Map
    Browse through our categorized archive of challenging Brain Boosters:







    Miscellany:
  • The expatriate librarian : skills that travel
  • Fun & Creative Stuff
  • Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT)
  • "Focus on Ability" - Celebrity Quiz
    Solutions Marketing Group is a marketing consulting firm dedicated to providing businesses with innovative marketing strategies that target consumers with disabilities. To demonstrate how talent can transcend disability, they have added a fun little quiz to their website – where readers are asked to match well-known persons to their (often not-so-well-known) disabilities.
  • Healthy Living > Resources for Teachers, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada

    My own tool kit:
  • Library Acquisitions Quiz
  • Practicum 1 - Acqweb
  • Digital Literacy
  • Librarians and Techies – A NEXUS
  • The Six A’s for Evaluating Web Content
  • Market Research Resources via Libraries
  • Case Studies from India: Evidence-based Librarianship
  • Blog As A Teaching Tool
    ---------
    ***If you believe this to be true, yet need some validation, Join SALA for Librarian Movie Night every quarter! [They say: Why, Because all work and no play makes a dull paper...]
  • Library Acquisitions Quiz

  • How to justify acquisition of reading materials
    Plan before you commit to avoid duplication and redundancy
    Don’t worry, just simply click and order
    Just buy any material as you like it

  • Which vendors does the library prefer?
    A friend of librarian
    A trick master, who knows how to be a millionaire
    Any one who offers economy and efficiency

  • Who does the final decision about selections
    Library user
    Librarian or faculty
    A student

  • What formats does the library acquire
    Who cares: buy anything under the sun to fill the shelves
    Only that which meets the majority user needs
    Whatever is available by impulse (in bookstore's display)

  • When does a library acquire reading materials
    At the end of the financial year

    Whenever the librarian has no other work

    When there is a demand from the user or users
  • Library Education Chronologies

    Library historians, archivists, record managers, documentalists, and educational historians would envy this site for its content, context and chronology. See one sample:
    Library Technician Programs in Canada, by Jean Weihs. Updated September 17, 2004

    See also: Library technician programs: skills-oriented paraprofessional education - includes appendix outlining a course of study, Library Trends, Wntr, 1998 by Frances Davidson-Arnott, Deborah Key. [Full text]

    Library Technician: Interview Preparation

    Want a clue as to what I might be asked?
    Or, interested in finding out the dynamics (professional and behavioral) of an interview?
    Read the Library Technician Interview, by Keith Puddick, UOToronto, [link dead now] About the author

    Show, tell, and follow the words of wise:
    Acquisitions Interview (real time scenarios)

    More clues from
    Professional Job hunt & Other resources including



  • Coop Placement Programs
  • Job Workshops (at least one week program)
  • Hiring Agency / Resume submission
  • Professional certification / registration
  • Employment / Voluntary assistance

    See also:
  • Continuation of the Art of Preparing for an Interview
  • 101+ Commonly Asked Interview Questions



  • NB. check Youtube's How To Prepare For An Interview And much more on Job Interviews @ YouTube

    See also:

  • How To Prepare For An Interview

  • Library Interview Question (and answers) "Database"
  • Who is a Library Technician

    Keith: Ah, Okay. Okay, so what is the difference between library tech and the job of the librarian?
    Steffa: The simplest explanation that I have heard of the job between, the difference between a library technician and a librarian, because it is difficult to explain otherwise. This is the best definition I’ve heard. Is the librarian thinks of what should be done, and the library technician does it. And that’s it. source Assignment 7a Library Technician Interview

  • The Ontario Associations of Library Technicians, defines as:
    A Library Technician is a graduate in Library Technology from an accredited post secondary institution whose programme is recognized by the Canadian Library Association. source

  • Government of Canada. National Occupational Classification: Library and Archive Technicians and Assistants, states:
    Library, archive and records management technicians and assistants assist users in accessing library or archive resources, participate in records management, assist in describing new acquisitions, participate in archive processing and storage, and conduct reference searches. They are employed by libraries, archives, records management branches and by other establishments with library or archive services. see more details

  • The Definition of the Title Libary Technician, stated at The Alabama Department of Archives & History is:
    This is advanced para-professional library work in library operations. Employees in this class perform a variety of functions, both difficult and routine in nature,necessary to the daily operation of a departmental, or state library agency. Work involves performing duties relative to the cataloging, shelving, distribution, and selection of books, magazines, newspapers, and other publications, and for assisting professional librarians on more difficult functions.

    See also: EXAMPLES OF WORK PERFORMED, and QUALIFICATIONS. Read the complete note
  • Significant Points about the job of Library Technicians @
    • Training requirements range from a high school diploma to an associate degree, but computer skills are necessary for all workers.
    • Increasing use of computerized circulation and information systems should continue to spur job growth, but many libraries� budget constraints should moderate growth.
    • Employment should grow rapidly in special libraries because growing numbers of professionals and other workers use those libraries.

    When in doubt ask the expert:
  • Council On Library/Media Technicians
  • The Ontario Associations of Library Technicians
  • Qualifications for Library Technicians Working in School Systems
    Approved by CSLA Executive Council; Executive Council ~ June 7, 1984
  • Practicum 1 - Acqweb

    AcqWebDirectory of Web resources for acquisitions, collection development and serials librarians, and other book-buying professionals.

    Write two strengths about any one category given below:

    1. About the Directory
    2. Web News for Acquiring Minds
    3. Verification Tools and Resources
    4. AcqWeb's Directory of Publishers and Vendors
    5. Associations and Organizations
    6. Library & Information Science Resources
    7. Journals, Newsletters and Electronic Discussion Archives
    8. Reference Resources
    9. Guides to Getting Started on the Web
    10. ACQNET, the edited listserv

    ----------
    Clue
    • Strength refers to something positive, benefits, advantages and may be about the scope, coverage, relevance, etc.

    1. About the Directory
    a. It is a useful guide for librarians and other professionals interested in acquisitions
    b. The scope and coverage is local, regional and international.

    2. Web News for Acquiring Minds
    a. This page links to press releases directly related to acquisitions and collection development work in libraries
    b. News stories don’t disappear quickly. That is news items remain for a while, and help those who read this section once in a while.

    3. Verification Tools and Resources
    a. helps in locating bibliographic information by disciplines, languages, etc.
    b. offers tools for comparing costs with the help of multiple online bookstores

    4. AcqWeb's Directory of Publishers and Vendors
    a. It provides links to publisher and vendors’ Web sites and email addresses.
    b. This directory can be browsed by Geographic regions, Subjects, and in alphabetical sequence by name of the publisher and vendor

    5. Associations and Organizations
    a. Lists associations and organizations of interest to Collection Development and Acquisitions Librarians.
    b. Also, identifies other helpful lists from local and international directories

    6. Library & Information Science Resources
    a. Arranges these resources by subject and department specific information (e.g. acquisitions)
    b. Hot topics contains sub-categories, such as, Banned Books, Consortia, etc. enabling librarians to know what issues are currently important for the professionals

    7. Journals, Newsletters and Electronic Discussion Archives
    a. Provides names and details of forums to discuss problems helps sharing knowledge among librarians
    b. librarians, as any other information user, need directories and indexes to find publications that help in continuing education, and this section has sufficient info.

    8. Reference Resources
    a. Offers a select list in systematic categories, such as, reference books, multilingual resources, Government Information, etc.,
    b. Points at other helpful starting points for such information

    9. Guides to Getting Started on the Web
    a. Many of these are for librarians in specific types of libraries or with particular subject specialities.
    b. Arranged in helpful sequence, the sub-categories include, useful pointers for Children's and Young Adult Librarians, Education Librarians, etc.

    10. ACQNET, the edited listserv
    a. Up-to-date (Tue May 23 2006), this is a sister publication of AcqWeb
    b. states the editorial policy and instructions for subscribing and maintaining a subscription.

    A Search for Library Technician Blogs

    How many blogs are too many for the Library Technicians?
    No one knows. But all keep wondering as the following post inquires: Dunn & Wilson Scholarship 2005 It lists the following two:
  • Library Supporter
  • Library Technician

    Continuing my search I found a most recent exploration of Library Technician Blogs, by Dave Hook. He continues to look up. All the best, Dave.

    Any ways, a simple search (allintitle: "library technician") shows 67 hits in blogspot. These results are arranged by date, most recent first.

    What is interesting in these blogs is these blogs are from all over the globe (all continents have productive samples), and covering a variety of subjects (including, jobs, technical issues, etc.).

    Keep guessing, there could be in hundreds!!!


    See also my posts at my other blog:

  • Blog As A Teaching Tool
  • Religious Education of the Young - Multifaith Resource Series no.1
    And my Amazon Listmania (among others), one for the Library Technicians.
  • Interviews, Doing presentations at ...

    Excellent hints by A polite librarian :
  • Speed-weed your ready reference collection.
  • Work a real-life reference desk shift... blind-folded.
  • Make a halfway decent pot of coffee... then catalog it.
  • Play a game of Trivial Pursuit/Scrabble against your most cantankerous faculty member.
  • Explain Ranganathan's laws of library science through interpretive dance.
  • Wrestle a cataloger. More details


    Thanks for creative visualization; The blooger has not restricted the prep to Western LIS Schools. It goes beyond, and includes Ranaganathan too.


    Well done!!!

  • Visualizing The Multifaith Information Gateway

    Note: This blog will present information about library and information science. Library and information science is a discipline, and deals with learning the theory of handling information and implementing its practice in library's functions, such as, acquiring, processing, organizing, retrieving, and much more. Library and information science then teaches, trains and educates the would be librarians to disseminate effectively (in other words, facilitate in accessing or making available, every source of learning in a library).



    Thanks to LS Blogs for this visualization
    A word from LS Blogs:
    Free submission for blogs, blog hosts, tools and related sites.
    Tip - You can search actual blog posts for upto date news and views - updated daily!
    Visit this Blog post View the Multifaith Information Gateway