You know it's a hard core list when the Library of Congress only ranks an "honourable mention". 

Ranking the World's Best Digital Libraries

Thanks to Heather M. for forwarding this to me...

Message from Terry Epperson, chair of PLG’s Braverman Prize committee

Hello –

We’re pleased to announce the fifth annual Miriam Braverman prize, sponsored by the Progressive Librarians Guild, for the best student paper on progressive library issues. Below are the guidelines for the prize. The announcement flyer can be found at: http://libr.org/plg/Braverman-08-flyer.pdf. Feel free to pass this announcement on to other listservs or groups that may be interested.

Braverman Prize Guidelines for PLG

1. Entrants must be Library/Information Science students attending a graduate level program in the United States or Canada.

2. Entries must be the original, unpublished work of the entrant, in English, and must not exceed 3,000 words.

3. The topic of the paper should concern an aspect of the social responsibilities of librarians, libraries, or librarianship. Papers related to archivists, archives, or archival work are also acceptable. Topics could include, but are not limited to, such concerns as professional ethics in the age of the USA PATRIOT Act; the commodification of information; the political value choices of cataloging and indexing; the role of libraries in bridging the information gap; democratic management systems within libraries, etc.

4. Each entry should include a cover sheet containing the entrant’s name, full contact information (address, phone number, e-mail address), name of the institution where the entrant is enrolled, and the title of the paper. No identifying information, other than the title, should appear on the paper itself.

5. Entries must be submitted electronically, in MS Word or RTF format, to bravermansubmissions@gmail.com

6. Entries must be received no later than 6pm on, April 15, 2008.

7. The winning entry will be published in Progressive Librarian and must conform to MLA in-text citation style. The winning entrant will also receive a $300 stipend toward attendance at the 2008 American Library Association annual conference in Anaheim, CA and an award at the annual PLG dinner. Award money is available only for ALA conference attendance; if the winner is unable to attend, the money will remain in the Braverman Award fund account or be donated at the discretion of the committee..

8. The judges’ decision is final. The act of submission implies the unqualified acceptance of the conditions of entry by the entrant.

Terrence W. Epperson, Ph.D.
Social Sciences Librarian
TCNJ Library
The College of New Jersey
P.O. Box 7718
Ewing, NJ 08628-0718
Phone: (609) 771-3352
Fax: (609) 637-5177
E-mail epperson@tcnj.edu
http://www.tcnj.edu/~library/epperson/index.html

From Books to Beers and Stacks to Snacks (Leap Year Edition)

"You Work An Extra Day This Year - Why Not Celebrate The Fact?"

Come to O'Hanlon's at 1947 Scarth St. -- we'll start at 5 pm on Friday February 29.  

RSVP on the event page. Spread the word far and wide -- especially to others who are not on Facebook.  The event page has RSVP instructions for those who are not on Facebook or you can post to the wall to let us know you are bringing more people.

Hope to see you there!

Your hosts,
Julie Arie, Jason Hammond and Julie McKenna

TechCrunch recently had a story about a new study which found that  lower-income people tend to prefer Yahoo! and higher-income people prefer Google. 

(Shea's reading over my shoulder and goes "That's funny - I didn't know anyone preferred Yahoo!")

Anyhow, that made me think about the "Everything You Wanted To Know About the Internet (But Were Afraid To Ask)" public sessions I've been giving in rural libraries for the last month and a half.  I introduce my presentation as "a guided tour of the Internet's most useful and most popular web sites" and tend to have an audience of very new, inexperienced Internet users who are mostly online for e-mail and some basic web surfing.  In very general terms, they've heard of Google, Hotmail, Ebay (but definitely haven't bought or sold anything online!) and occasionally Facebook but that's about it. 

And to be fair, "rural villages" are almost perfectly split between using Yahoo! and Google according to the TechCrunch article while "small towns" skew towards Google.  It's places like "struggling societies", "blue collar backbone" and "remote America" that spend more time with Yahoo! (Just don't ask me what those different categories mean!)

During the presentation, I also do a section on sites that are useful for our everyday life in the province - sites for maps, phone books, local news, etc. and a plug for the library's web site and all it has to offer.

But for the bulk of the presentation, these are the sites I talk about (with related subjects I cover in brackets.)

Amazon.com (buying online and e-commerce)
Download.com (viruses and keeping your computer secure)
Ebay.com (how sites like Amazon and Ebay among others have leveled the playing field for people in rural areas who are now able to buy (and sell) a massive range of products that used to require special trips to the nearest major centre to obtain in the past)
Facebook.com (online privacy)
Flickr.com (your digital footprint)
Google.com (basic tips to improve your searches, different features of Google beyond search)
Hotmail.com
Wikipedia.org
YouTube.com

Do you notice a glaring omission?  Did my own anti-Yahoo! bias factor into my choice of sites to talk about during my presentation, even when Yahoo is the number one site for traffic on a global basis and one of the top three companies for Internet traffic in the United States? 

This is also especially ironic given my recent discovery that only three of the four major search engines find my blog - Yahoo! is one that does along with MSN Live and Ask.com.  Google is the only one that doesn't! 

I've only got a couple weeks left but are there any other sites that you'd introduce to an audience of beginning Internet users (er, other than Yahoo?  )

If you're an MLIS student or recent grad, I encourage you to enter this contest.  (I can't tell you how much fame and fortune I've gained by being a runner-up last year!   That does remind me - I better spend my CLA gift certificate for free swag before it expires!)

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Dear Students:

CLA is pleased to announce the 25th Student Article Contest.

CANADIAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
25th STUDENT ARTICLE CONTEST

Eligibility
The contest is open to all students registered in, or recently graduated from, a Canadian library school, a library technician program, an information science program, or faculty of education library program.

Registered students may be full or part time; graduates should have completed their studies within one year of the competition's closing date of March 31, annually. Articles submitted must be written while the student is enrolled in a program of study, or within one year of graduation.

Each contestant must submit a faculty member's statement attesting to the fact that the article fulfills the above requirements.

Multiple-author papers are eligible, but in the event such a paper is selected, only one prize will be awarded.
Submissions may be in English or French.
Prizes
First Prize:
$150 cash prize.
Free registration, accommodation and transportation to the CLA/ACB National Conference (courtesy of Coutts Information Services, Bowker and ProQuest).

The winning article will be published in Feliciter, the magazine of the Canadian Library Association/Association canadienne des bibliothèques. (Winning articles in French would appear in both official languages). (courtesy of Coutts Information Services <http://www.couttsinfo.com/>, ProQuest <http://il.proquest.com/brand/micromedia.shtml>, Bowker <http://www.bowker.com/>, and the Wosk Family Bursary).

Runners-Up:
First runner-up receives:
$75 choice of CLA/ACB publications.
$150 cash prize courtesy of the Wosk Family Bursary
Second runner-up receives:
$75 choice of CLA/ACB publications.
$100 cash prize courtesy of the Wosk Family Bursary
Content and Style
Articles should discuss, analyze or evaluate, in a clear and readable style, timely issues in librarianship or information science. Conclusions and premises should follow logically, and statements should be supported. Essays or term papers should be reworked into an article suitable for publication. The style should be informal but informative. References, if required, should be drawn from Canadian sources as much as possible and follow CLA/ACB's style sheet  and also available from Valérie Delrue at the CLA/ACB Office at (613) 232.9625 ext. 301 or e-mail: vdelrue@cla.ca

Originality
All manuscripts must be the original, unpublished work of the contestant(s). Entries must be submitted exclusively to the Canadian Library Association/Association canadienne des bibliothèques during the competition period.

Format for Submission
Manuscript length should be between 1,000 and 1,500 words, typewritten on 8 1/2" x 11" paper, double spaced, with generous margins. Two unfolded copies should be submitted to the following address, no later than March 31, annually.. Winners will be asked to supply their article in electronic format.

Send to:

Student Article Contest
Canadian Library Association/Association canadienne des bibliothèques
328 Frank Street
Ottawa, ON K2P 0X8
Tel: (613) 232-9625
Fax: (613) 563-9895
e-mail: info@cla.ca

Please include a separate page containing the following information: Full title of entry; name of the author(s); home address and telephone number; name of the program in which author(s) is/are registered; and a faculty member's verification.

Judging
A panel of judges will read and evaluate all entries; additional evaluators may be called upon to assess submissions in French.

Judges look for originality; value and relevance of the information presented; consistency and accuracy; style and readability; and suitability for publication. If, in the opinion of the judges, no article submitted satisfies these criteria, the panel reserves the right to not select a winner.

CONTEST CLOSING DATE: MARCH 31, ANNUALLY

Thank you,
Valerie Delrue
Membership Coordinator
Canadian Library Association
328 Frank Street
Ottawa, ON  K2P 0X8
Tel: 613-232-9625 x 301
Fax: 613-563-9895
vdelrue@cla.ca

Inspired by Barb's request for the toilet paper rolls pictured in my last entry (unfortunately, that was a borrowed picture from Flickr so I can't help out with that), I'll put out this question...

One of our branches had a sign up requesting empty used Kleenex boxes be donated to the library.  I assumed they were needed for craft projects but it turns out that it was something else, completely unrelated to children's programming. 

Can you guess what they were needed for? 

Hmmm...it doesn't seem to require that you be a librarian, only that you are willing to join CLA for the duration of the term on the jury (which is a 5 year commitment with a requirement that you read ~100 books per year.  I've done nearly that for a book awards jury once but doing it for five years straight? )

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Call for Volunteers, CLA Young Adult Book Award Committee

 

The committee is seeking someone who is:

 

• widely read in young adult literature
• passionate about connecting teens with books
• a member of the Canadian Library Association, or willing to join for the duration of their term on the Committee

Each member of the committee represents a region of Canada, and this year’s applicant must be a resident of Saskatchewan.

 

We hope to create a Committee that best embodies our national identity.  If you are male, a member of the First Nations or a member of a visible minority, you are especially encouraged to apply.

 

To apply, please submit the following:

·        a cover letter

·        your resume

·        two reviews of recent young adult literature.  Reviews may be of novels, collections of short stories or graphic novels.

 

Please read the complete requirements on the CLA Web site, http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Young_Adult_Canadian_Book_Award

 

Submissions should be sent by Monday, February 25, 2008 to the Canadian Library Association’s Participation Committee c/o Brenda Shields, bshields@cla.ca; or Don Butcher, Executive Director, dbutcher@cla.ca. Fax to 613-563-9895; mail to 328 Frank St., Ottawa, ON K2P 0X8.