Friday I spent all day at an information literacy/web 2.0 workshop in American Fork. I sometimes wonder how a nice person like me got mixed up in a whirlwind of change such as I have. I thought my job would be constant and secure and comfortable......comfort is as far from the truth as it can get. I have finally come to a full realization that the word library is NO LONGER synonymous with books! I have been in denial for about 5 years now as the need for better and bigger and faster and stronger and more and more computers and technology have taken over my working life. Now, don't get me wrong....I am not against progress and moving forward it is just that I never dreamed I would end up in the middle of it and having to keep up with it. I just feel confident that I have learned all the tips and tricks of a particular portion of the internet of up-keep of a computer or software and it then all changes and I have to unlearn that and relearn the new. I will never be a propeller-head! I do not truly understand technology. I just memorize steps (I am a cook-book learner). Let me give you all a test to see how savvy you are about information literacy.
1. What do the following domain names represent? .org .sch .com .gov .mil .ac .edu
2. How can you find out who is linked to your website (or blog)?
3. How can you find the history of any given Web site?
4. How do sites get to the top of a result list in Google?
5. Why might you use quotation marks when conducting a search?
6. How do you find the owner or publisher of a Web site?
7. Identify the three Boolean search terms?
8. When might you use truncation or wild cards in your search string?
9. What 4 things do you check to decide if a webpage is content rich? (worthy to use in your research paper)
*These are just a few of the things I am required to teach students as part of my core curriculum. What ever happened to learning how to use the card catalog and the "Readers Guide to Periodical Literature"???
The answers to these questions will be posted in my next blog.
2 comments:
Looking at the positive side of all this...just think, at least these students can say they learned something from their school librarian. Remember, I only entered my highschool one time and it was for picture re-take day. I think its awesome that you put so much into your job and that the kids are benefitting and associating with you. I could come up with 2 answers to your 9 questions, and they probably are wrong. Lets be honest here, We all have Jed to thank for the blog. He just gets me to where I can type.
Maybe I could become a librarian when HP (who bought EDS) lays me off... I actually know those answers! Plus, I used to work in a bookstore back when books were in vogue.
-Mark
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