back at it

Wilson Bull — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:54:07 +0000

Greetings and HNY. I’d like to report on what I’ve been up to lately. I have travelled to Eastern Washington to give a training and to visit some of our clubs in that area. The training went really well. We’re trying to work with a group of university students at Central Washington University to have them provide training for families who receive computers from the TAP clubs. Fortunately for us, they’re willing to travel a couple hours to give the trainings, for free and will even go into the homes of the recipients to train them. Now it’s just a matter of picking a date and hoping people show up. I also visited some clubs in Bridgeport and Brewster which were interesting. It’s funny to see the different styles of the club leaders and what their kids are like. Each club really has its own personality which is kind of cool. Coming back from that trip I experienced, quite possibly, the worst driving conditions I had ever faced. Coming back from Eastern Washington requires going over two mountain passes, which does not sound that terrible, and the first time I went, it wasn’t. However, coming back over the passes, there was a lot (3-6 inches) of snow of the road, combined with a lot of snow falling from the sky. It was probably the most intense couple hours in recent memory. Anyway, one of our clubs had a computer distribution on 12/18 which apparently went pretty well. Now it’s time to try and get the trainings happening and visit the clubs I haven’t been to yet.
I had somewhat of an extended vacation in that because of the snow travelling to the office was pretty much impossible. I was, however, able to work from home which was enjoyable. I’m looking forward to setting up some training for the recipients of the computers and having the rest of the distributions.

ALSO! I'm using my in-service training funds to take a class on CSS this Friday. I'll let you know how it goes.

Librarian's Internet Index

Jessica McCoy — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 22:27:05 +0000

So I just ran across an interesting site, the Librarian's Internet Index. As the name suggests, it is an index of websites organized into categories and then subtopics. Each area contains links and short descriptions of relevant, useful websites. The sites listed have actually been reviewed by librarians and recommended as containing quality information. These aren't just random Google search results. Seems like this could be a useful research tool, especially for folks working with young people in/outside of schools.

The site also offers a "New this Week" email newsletter. Opening of the Oct. 26 newsletter: "This week grow what you know with websites about elections, Halloween festivities, iron ore, invisibility cloaks, federal spending, spider bites, paper cranes, prisons in the UK, and more. Bon appetit from librarians Karen, Wendy, Jennifer, Maria, and Charlotte."

Hmmm...Maybe it's a little old-school, but I like it. I like it because the hit-or-miss nature of search engines can be frustrating (especially when working with kids!). And because I think librarians are cool people. :o)

--Jessica

Digital Arts Service Corps - afterschool

back at it

Librarian's Internet Index