Opportunity to Brush Up on Google Search Skills

For those of you that want to do more with Google than to use quotation marks you might be interested in a free on-line class that Google is conducting in Power Searching.

Power Searching with Google Registration Page

Power Searching with Google is a free, short term class that Google is conducting. It is in the same spirit as the MIT classes on the Python programing language and Building a Search Engine.

Meaning that you could have classmates from all over the world. This specific class is being taught by Google. There will be opportunities to go deep via Google+, Google Hangouts and other social media pathways.

I would guess that you would be able to ask questions via Google Hangouts or a number of different ways. I'm half tempted to buy that Nexus 7 tablet just to try it out. Like I need an excuse to buy tech. 

Class starts on July 10, 2012 and runs for two weeks.  So, fire up that phone, tablet or desktop and register.

Addendum: Just got my confirmation; ixnay on the phone. You can use a tablet, notebook or desktop computer. I'm thinking they would prefer that you use Chrome. Just a hunch.

The Data Journalism Handbook

There are all kinds of ways to find information. What do you do when you find it? Or perhaps there is so much of it that it requires a different approach to share the main points of the sources.

The Data Journalism Handbook is a guide written by journalists to help other journalists and people who need to deal with large amounts of information to find a way to get to the good stuff and make it visible.

There is a free web version and a paper version that will be published some time this year. In the web version you can select the chapter that most meets your needs at the moment.

The books focus is from the point of view of someone in the United Kingdom but who wants to always search American centric information anyway.

Chapters that might have an appeal to library students include:

• A Five Minute Field Guide - suggested methods to organize your thoughts and a listing of data sources that could provide support to hard to answer questions. Some of the sources cited are the Guardian's World Data Bank, Project Wombat and ScraperWiki.
• Basic Steps In Working with Data - how to ask the right questions and find the answers.
• Designing with Data - because when you find it you have to do something with it. How do you present the result of your search without distorting the intended meaning?

This is a good resource for the old kit bag

ALA 2011 Virtual Conference

If you were wishing you could have been in New Orleans for this summer's American Library Association's annual conference, it is still possible to get in the fun and wealth of information and resources that this conference can offer.

Check out ALA's 2011 Virtual Conference and see what they have to offer. It's being held July 13-14th online and only costs $69. If I wasn't so busy with my two summer school classes that begin this next week, I would definitely check out these two workshops:


10:30-11:30
“Download This! How One Library Embraced Its Downloadable Future”
Sponsored by PLA
In 2010 the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County conducted an evaluation of its downloadable materials collection. A team collected data on 83 other libraries' collections, ranking the collections and noting best practices for presenting and supporting those collections. The team recommended dramatically increasing the Library's downloadable budget, improving its catalog and website, marketing its collection, implementing staff and customer training, and improving customer support. The session will present the results, one year later.

1:30-2:30
“Seriously Social: Leveraging Social Media”
Sponsored by PLA
Explore the fundamentals of social media, learning how to effectively use social networking to engage patrons and foster personal relationships. Discover how the Grand Rapids Public Library leverages the power of social media to provide outstanding customer services and promote their library. A live demonstration of Twitter and Facebook (or the reigning social media at the time of this presentation) will illustrate the assets embedded in online relationships.

This is just a sample of these wonderful workshops that ALA is offering for those who simply could not get away or afford traveling to beautiful New Orleans for this year's annual conference with ALA. This educational resource is great for anyone who works in libraries.

Cory Doctorow on New Vision for Libraries

Cory Doctorow is an author and he writes for the very popular blog, Boing Boing. This is a video of his ALA’s Privacy and Youth Conference talk about a possible change of focus for libraries.

The talk is about 22 minutes long and then there is a question and answer session after his main talk.

Restrictions on library e-book lending threaten access to information

E-Books and Public Libraries

ALA Press Release http://ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pr.cfm?id=6517

excerpt from: BoingBoing:
American Library Association task forces to take on ebook lending
Cory Doctorow at 9:23 AM Wednesday, Mar 9, 2011
The American Library Association has struck two new task forces to investigate the future of ebooks in libraries: the Equitable Access to Electronic Content Task Force and the E-book Task Force. The objective is to come up with a nationwide, coherent strategy to address the fact that some publishers will not make their books available as lendable ebooks, while others require ebooks to be packaged in crippleware formats that self-destruct after a certain number of checkouts.

Free Lecture on Google's Universal Library at Huntington

Lecture: The Use and Abuse of the Universal Library

March 14 (Monday)

7:30 p.m. Free

Google’s project to digitize millions of books and create a “universal library” joins a long history of such visionary schemes. Adrian Johns, professor of history at the University of Chicago, will invoke that history to show the radical implications such an endeavor would have for authorship, reading, and publishing. Friends' Hall. No reservations required.

http://www.huntington.org/cal_event_detail.aspx?d=3/14/2011

Library of Congress to preserve Twitter posts

Library of Congress to preserve Twitter posts
(AP) – Apr 14, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO — That Twitter message you just posted about your ham sandwich might now become part of history.
Twitter is donating its archives of tweets to the Library of Congress, going back to the first one posted by co-founder Jack Dorsey on March 21, 2006. It wasn't a profound moment, and Dorsey didn't come close to Twitter's 140-character limit for messages. He simply posted "Jack," according to the Library of Congress' archives.
Twitter and the Library of Congress announced their partnership Wednesday.
The Library of Congress wants to store tweets to give researchers a better way to revisit discussions of significant events, including the tweets that occurred after President Obama's election in 2008, during the protests in Iran last year and the earthquakes in Haiti and elsewhere this year.
Only tweets meant for public viewing will be available, though. Accounts with more restrictive privacy settings won't be included.
There's also another limitation: Twitter said the Library of Congress won't be able to offer access to specific tweets until six months after they're posted. That means the Library of Congress' archive will always been missing billions of tweets, based on the 55 million daily tweets that Twitter says it's now processing.
In a separate deal announced Wednesday, Internet search leader Google also began to draw upon tweeting history with a new tool that will allow people to sift through Twitter messages about specific topics by day, month or year. Only tweets going back to Feb. 11 of this year will be available initially, but Google eventually expects to gain access to all the messages dating back to Twitter's birth.
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

This We Know - Viewing Statistics from Data.gov

There is a tremendous amount of information provided to American citizens. For all of the questions being asked about governmental data the answers are not always easy to find.


This We Know is not a government site but is does display governmental data. The website collects information from www.data.gov and presents it in a format that is accessible.

For example, by typing in the zip code of 91106 I quickly found out that:

• How much pollutants were release in the air and by which companies within the zip code.
• How many people are unemployed in Pasadena, CA.
• How many factories are in the area.

The information is drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau, Data.gov and other statistic data bases. It seems to be in the early stages so what you see is what you get. I imagine as time goes on users would be able to ask questions via the website to draw answers form Data.gov.

At least, I hope so.

But if you like your data raw, massive and plum overwhelming there is nothing like going to the source, in this case the Data.gov Tools page:

On the Tools page is a gateway catalog of the hundreds of governmental websites providing statistical information, information resources and government resources.

You can search by category or by governmental agency. There is a lot of data here. Use what you can, it is for the taking.

University of Arizona Digital Information Management Certificate Program

June 2009 - For immediate release

The University of Arizona Digital Information Management (DigIn) Certificate program is currently accepting applications for Fall '09. IMLS scholarships are available.

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The University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science is pleased to announce that openings are available in the school's graduate certificate program in Digital Information Management (DigIn), and that scholarships are available for students entering the program in Fall 2009.

DigIn combines intensive, hands-on technology learning and a strong grounding in the theoretical principles needed to manage large-scale digital collections in a fast-changing environment. The program supports a wide range of professional careers involving digital collections, including but not limited to libraries, archives, and museums.

Graduate certificates are increasingly being recognized as a means for information professionals with advanced degrees to enhance their knowledge and technology skills. DigIn is also open to professionals who are new to the field and who may be considering a masters-level education in the future.

The program is delivered 100% online and has no residency requirements.
Students generally complete the certificate in four or six semesters (15 months or 27 months).

DigIn now accepts applications before the start of the Summer, Fall, or Spring semesters. The application deadline for Fall '09 is July 1. Late applications will be accepted, although we cannot guarantee admission for the fall semester.

DigIn was developed in cooperation with the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records and the University of Arizona Outreach College. Major funding for the program comes from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which has also provided scholarship funding.

Additional details on the program including course descriptions, admissions requirements and application forms may be found on the program website:

digin.arizona.edu

Applicants may also contact the DigIn staff at:

digin@email.arizona.edu.
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