Scary stuff, kids

Just in time for Halloween, we have some treats from the Library (podcast, ipods, facultyspace news), some haunted tales from the web world, (well, okay, not too haunted) and some chilling e-Learning resources! Ahhhhh, scary!

1) Library News
This week’s podcast: CSI: Catalogue Scene Investigation…the Library Catalogue: UNCOVERED!
Listen in to this week’s podcast as the Library’s Francesca and John uncover all the cool things you can do with the Library Catalogue. Sure, you can look up books…but did you know you can browse the shelves, reserve something to pick up later, renew items you have out? All right from the catalogue! While wearing your fuzzy slippers! Oh yes, and there’s more! Find out the scoop during this week’s podcast! All you need to know about the catalogue in under 9 minutes!

Listen to health info on the go…..at the Library @ IAHS!
You can now borrow an iPod shuffle from the Library @ IAHS! Not only will you be able to listen to the Library’s podcasts but there will be nursing and health-related podcasts preloaded as well! A treat for your two ears! Head on over to the Library @ IAHS to check it out!

How do I find books around here?
Need a refresher on how to find books and videos in the Library @ Mohawk? Check out this handy tutorial….now with audio! Everything you need to know in under 7 minutes!

What has the Library done for me lately?

Are you a faculty member wondering what the Library@Mohawk can do for you? Well, wonder no more. Head on over to the facultyspace to see a list of all the fine things we can offer you…help in the classroom, research support, keeping you up-to-date! And a handy brochure you can print out and take with you to boot!

2) Web World News

What’s so smart about SMART answers?

Ask.com has been providing smart answers for ages! But what are they and why are they so smart? Well, instead of providing you with a list of links to answer your query, Ask provides an answer at the top of the result list and this is called a “smart answer”. You don’t even need to click on anything in most cases – the answer is sitting right there in front of your face! For example, looking for the population of a country, political information (name of leader for example), an award winner (Oscar, Nobel Prize), word definition? Just type in your query with a word that signifies what you are looking for. For example, if I type in best actress Oscar winner 1982, the answer appears right off the top! Similarly, type in [President] Philippines, [population] Uganda, [definition] euphoria, etc. where the word in square brackets signifies what you are searching for. Where does Ask.com get all this great info? They gather facts from these sources:World Fact Book, Wikipedia, The American Heritage Dictionary, and Roget’s Thesaurus. Maps, news and image databases are also searched. When you’re looking for facts in a hurry, give smart answers a try! More info

Start Your Engine!

Haven’t you always wanted to build your own engine? Jet-propelled? Super nasty? Well, now you can build your own engine, search engine, that is! ResultR is a search engine that pulls in results from a variety of other search engines that it displays grouped by engine. Included are search engines such as Google, MSN, Yahoo news, Findory, Technorati, Furl, Wikipedia, eBay and so on. Tabs allow searches across the web, news, blogs, social information, media, jobs, reference, local and shopping. And here’s the clincher: you can pick which engines you want to search with, save your settings and name your engine! Hoo boy! There are 40 plus options offered through ResultR. You are allowed 15 options and a cookie allows you to save your choices to your computer. Once you get back the glaring red text, it’s a fun ride! Read more at Search Engine Watch

3) E-Learning News

Is social software taking over the world?

Social Software: E-Learning Beyond Learning Management Systems from the European Journal of Open, Distant and E-Learning discusses “the potential of social software to move e-learning beyond learning management systems”. The nature of sharing and organizing information is changing so fast out there in the webby world, all of our previous assumptions about e-learning are getting shaken to bits! The Creating Passionate Users blog also has an article on this theme and with pictures too! Something to ponder, indeed!

To blog or not to blog
Waiting to dive into the blog pool but want to test the waters first? Check out AcademicBlog wiki – it lists blogs from all over academe. Check out what other academic types are doing in a whole range of disciplines: science, the arts, business, medicine and more!

Library News Madness

This week, there is so much Library news, it’s almost madness! And not only that but some far out web-world news to boot! Can you stand it? [Yes, I just used the phrase "far out" ...believe it, it's true!] Now, on to the news…..

1) Library News

a) Heaps of more trial databases to try out! These databases are crammed full of magazine and journal articles as well as electronic books on a motherload of topics – from computers to business to health! Many of these are available for you to try out until December! Through a special arrangement by Knowledge Ontario, you’ll be seeing many of these added to the regular line up of Library @ Mohawk databases come January! Here’s a sampling of what you can try out:

CPI.Q (Canadian Periodical Index): contains a wealth of Canadian and international periodicals — including Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail; Maclean’s weekly magazine; Canadian News Facts; and encyclopedic reference materials, such as the Canadian Parliamentary Guide and Canadian Newsmakers.

Discovering Collection: comprises thousands of overview essays, critical analyses, biographies, timelines and multimedia elements.

Health and Wellness Resource Centre: includes loads of health-related resources for the everyday consumer. Includes a Drug & Herb Finder, Alternative Health Encyclopedia, Health Assessment Tools and more!

And there’s plenty more…be sure to stop by for a free sample!

b) New titles: Have you checked out the new titles list? Updated last month, it’s almost endless! Wowsers!

c) New Podcast: E-Books: What are they? Their secrets uncovered. Ever wondered what you could do with an electronic book? Well, it turns out there is a ton of things you can do with one – check out this week’s podcast when the Library’s Collection Management Librarian gives you the inside scoop on this oft misunderstood but extremely useful library resource.

Hey – did you know you don’t have to visit the BRAINcast web site every time you want to listen to a new episode of the Library’s podcast? If you use iTunes or Bloglines, just click on the iTunes or Bloglines button on the right hand side of the BRAINcast web site to subscribe to the feed. Once you do that, each time a new episode is published, you’ll get it delivered straight to your Bloglines or iTunes! Easy peasy!

d) New content this month in Facultyspace

We’ve added a whole new category of content to the facultyspace called “your research”! With the new focus on institutional research here at Mohawk, wouldn’t it be nice to keep up-to-date with the issues surrounding research and the sharing of scholarly information? Well, now you can! Go to the facultyspace, choose the Learning4You button on the top navigation bar and choose “your research” from the dropdown menu (or just type your research into the search box!) So far we have 3 top-notch sites all about the wonderful world of scholarly research and research dissemination.

2) Web-World News

a) RLG…RIP

A while back I wrote about RedLightGreen – a fantastic web site that listed books from loads of Libraries throughout the world and created bibliographies for you on the fly. Yes, it was dreamy as all get go but sadly…it is no more. But weep not dear readers as it has been replaced by a similar service: Worldcat.org. WorldCat.org, contains a list of resources from nearly 12,000 libraries worldwide! That’s a lot of books! At the moment it doesn’t have the handy bibliography-creating feature but they are working on it.

If you saved citations in RedLightGreen, you can retrieve yourcitation list from RedLightGreen until November 4th by following these steps:

- Connect to RedLightGreen. Use the Sign In link (if you aren’tautomatically signed in)
- Click the Your List link in the upper right
- You can then select the E-Mail link to send your citations to your e-mail account, or get a printer-friendly view to print or download.

b) Search for Video Podcasts!

There are loads of video podcasts out there but how do you find them all? Check out the super site Searchforvideo.com to search or browse by category. Categories included are: music, sports, news, comedy, tech and TV-Film. You can also subscribe to the video podcasts right from this web site! Nifty!

c) On the cusp…
Just wanted to share this tidbit of web world news to let you know what is coming down the pipes…this week Sun Microsystems announced that they will be launching a presence in the virtual world Second Life. They will actually feature a press conference within Second Life (first Fortune 500 company to do so!) and a tour of the Sun facility within Second Life.

What is Second Life? The Sun web site sums it up nicely: “Second Life is a 3D online world with a rapidly growing population of more than 700,000 residents from 100 countries around the globe. The residents themselves create and build the world, including homes, vehicles, nightclubs, stores, landscapes, clothing, and games.”

Why does this matter? Online worlds like Second Life show how the Internet is being transformed into a totally participatory medium – almost like a world unto itself – can you hear the Star Trek music in the background? Sun is the first but probably not the last Fortune 500 company involved in education to perk up and start paying attention to the possibilities. Something for us to keep an eye on for future ways of teaching and learning! For more on this, check out this presentation on the EDUCAUSE web site: Second Life: The Educational Possibilities of a Massively Multiplayer Virtual World (MMVW)
Beam me up, Scotty!