Thing 17 - ELM Productivity Tools

I've been using some of these tools for a while. I love the journal alerts feature provided by Ebsco. It's an easy way to keep up on what's new. There are three or four journals that get circulated throughout the GRRL libraries. However, since there are 32 branches as well as several HQ departments, it's not uncommon to get a particular issue six months to a year after it's come out. That's hugely frustrating to me, so I've set up journal alerts for my favorite journals so that I can get the info right away.

I have fiddled with the web page feature a little, but didn't really find it that useful. It feels fairly cumbersome and putzy, especially in contrast to the ease with which you can create text, add links and graphics, etc. in Blogger.

That said, I can see where this could be a useful tool for school libraries and teachers in those districts where there are not sufficient funds for the district to support much in the way of teacher/staff websites. Based on what I see with my partner's school and what I hear from parents at the library, it is becoming an expectation that teachers will have web pages where they list assignments due, suggestions for projects, etc. Parents want to be able to look on a web page to see whether their child has homework due. However, I'm unclear as to whether ELM assists with hosting the page, as opposed to simply creating it. And, I'm not clear why a teacher would prefer an ELM-created web page as opposed to a Blogger-created blog. I suppose it could be as much a matter of what you start with (and invest time and energy into) as anything.

Thing 12: I Reddit but don't particularly Digg-it

Oh I'm going to sound like such a elitist, snobbish putz for this one, but wow. I am so unenthused by this Thing. It really seemed like the most grating waste of time since (completely out of morbid curiousity) I bounced onto Fox news and ETonline. I don't care about the latest narcissistic and ill-advised stunt pulled by some celebrity. I don't want to know (at least not on good days) what warped conspiracy theory is being promulgated by far-right nutcases.

Actually, I really like editors. I'd rather find sites that have good, competent editors and let them do their jobs. One of my favorite sites: Common Dreams. I also like New York Times online and the Christian Science Monitor. I know I'm showing my progressive/liberal bias. As I write this there is granola baking in the oven.

So, yes, I browsed all these sites. There were a couple of interesting stories or pictures. There were far more annoying ones (that showed up on more than one site).

I also was reminded of an article I read somewhere that said that every day there are 100,000 new blogs created (I will try to find the source). I don't want to sound dismissive, but I suspect that the vast majority of the people starting those blogs are not really up to providing reliable analysis on issues of Mideast peace, global climate change, or even the best-tasting brand of dark chocolate.