I'm in denial

Because today was Corinne's last day. Next semester she'll be teaching in Chicago and after that she'll have a school library of her very own. So we're all really happy for her, but it's tough to say goodbye. Here are a couple of photos from today's "surprise" winter party.

Sam Smith and Elizabeth Majerus share a last hug.


Corinne holds on to Jeremy's potato chips while he explains his remarkable hat. Really.


The blog will be quiet during break. I'll be back at KlezKamp, the Yiddish folk arts camp, for lots of fiddling and dancing. So, nu? You should have a safe and joyous holiday season!

Maybe times HAVE changed

We have a new book called Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX, the Law That Changed the Future of Girls in America, by Karen Blumenthal (796.082 B627l). Glancing through it, I was reminded of how much things have changed for girls and women since I was in high school. Okay, we still have a long way to go, but this book reminded me of how much I now take for granted. It helped me recall the happy shock I felt the first time I saw a woman behind the wheel of a big city bus, which was around the same time I got my first library job on the county bookmobile. The driver was an elderly man with heart problems and I was afraid he would keel over one day. I wanted to learn how to drive the bookmobile myself in case of emergency, but the (all woman) management wouldn't hear of it. Wouldn't be an issue in today's world.

Check out this photo of girls protesting a newspaper's policy in 1971 (the year after I graduated from high school) to allow only boys to deliver the paper.

Just when I thought I'd seen it all

What do you do when you find spare aluminum foil just hanging about? You can't just leave it there. Laura demonstrates a "fitting" solution on her model, er...victim, Lizzy.



And then there's Isaac's Facebook page, no, his conic notebook, no, his Facebook page, no, his conic notebook, no, his...

Oh, those crafty sophomores.

Some days are just like that

Today the Computer Literacy I students were answering my questions using vocabulary we'd discussed, but they were getting it all wrong. Trying to please me, I suppose. But really, "metadata" and "Librarians' Internet Index" aren't generic terms that can be inserted as random answers to specific questions. (Okay, LII searches the metadata that describes hand-picked websites --- but how does that have ANYTHING to do with finding magazine articles in periodical indexes???). Maybe you had to have been there.

We started our unit on using forums and web boards to find and share information. Today's group registered for the school's forums. In anticipation of their imminent discovery of the book discussion forum, I posted a fresh announcement describing the protocols. Random, if well-meaning, answers in class are perhaps a precursor to random, if well-meaning, posts on the book discussion forum. Heaven knows, there are enough random posts on the forum already to populate a major (if virtual) metropolitan area.

Much ado about MySpace

The school recently distributed a brochure to students called myspace may not be just YOUR space, developed by the Student Legal Service office on campus. The brochure focuses on how future employers may judge applicants adversely based on what's on their social networking sites. It spells out what employers might find questionable and what actions they can take.

Although our students are not yet concerned with full-time employment, some of the same issues apply. College admissions officers and scholarship boards may choose to withdraw offers. And the "P" word (yes, predator), though not mentioned in the brochure, must always be considered. The brochure urges students to use privacy settings, although those don't guarantee privacy in all circumstances.

I took a highly unscientific poll of students (mostly by wandering around the hall during 8th period) to see if they thought brochures like this changed people's posting habits. The general consensus was that everyone knows the really obvious stuff (no nude photographs), but that content that is merely silly or lame -- while it may lose a person a job (which would be the poster's own fault/responsibility) -- is ultimately no big deal.

I think everyone is actually missing the point. MySpace pages, with or without objectionable content, just look bad. Thanks to a tip from Mr. Smith, I found out that PC World agrees with me. In September, columnist Dan Tynan gave it the number one spot on his list of the 25 worst web sites.

Unexpected science

Jenny has put up a new display called "Not your typical science books." She's set out a pretty entertaining assortment of books with titles like Buzz: The Science and Lore of Alcohol and Caffeine, Every Creeping Thing: True Tales of Faintly Repulsive Wildlife, and Blood & Guts: A Short History of Medicine. Blood & Guts, by the late Roy Porter, is peppered with historical illustrations from various archives and libraries. My favorite is probably the cover image of a quack and his patient (ca. 1800, by James Gillray):

I heart the Online Gargoyle

It just keeps getting better and better. The latest improvement is a comment feed on the upper right hand corner of the home page. Now you can see at a glance which stories have garnered new comments, without having to check individual stories. And it's very cool to see where the comments are coming from. Students, faculty, parents, alumni, and just People Out There. Some of the comments are quite lengthy -- almost editorials in themselves. People are clearly taking this opportunity seriously.

It's just so cool that we not only have a high quality online student newspaper, but that we also allow commenting. Very rare in today's schooling environment.

More fun image generators

Courtesy LibrarianInBlack.

Create tickets for your own show at Concert Ticket Generator

Make your friends crazy by generating a wacky computer error message for their desktops. They click. And click. And nothing. Happens.

Make the scoreboard say what YOU want it to say.

See your name up in lights.