Thursday, March 29, 2012
Harry Potter Now Available in the Digital Collection
Harry Potter fans rejoice! Beginning today, you can check out and download the entire Harry Potter series as an eBook or eAudiobook from the library's digital collection. These books are certain to be popular, so place your holds now! If you need help with the digital collection, review this web page or contact a librarian for assistance.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Find New Non-fiction CD Books in the eCatalog
Do you love audiobooks? Prefer non-fiction? In response to patron requests, we've recently adjusted our library eCatalog so you can retrieve a list of non-fiction CD books quickly and easily.
Here's what to do:
1. Go to the eCatalog (ecatalog.wclibrary.info/) and select Advanced Search.
2. Type an asterisk in the first search box. This tells the eCatalog to retrieve all items that meet the specified criteria. This field cannot be left blank.
3. Choose the location "CV - CD Book - Adult Nonfiction" or "WB - CD Book - Adult Nonfiction". You can choose both locations by holding down the CTRL key while selecting both options.
4. Click Submit.
5. All Non-fiction CD Books will be listed. To see the newest items, sort your results list by date.
Here's what to do:
1. Go to the eCatalog (ecatalog.wclibrary.info/) and select Advanced Search.
3. Choose the location "CV - CD Book - Adult Nonfiction" or "WB - CD Book - Adult Nonfiction". You can choose both locations by holding down the CTRL key while selecting both options.
4. Click Submit.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Most Popular Author Searches
Which authors are WCPL patrons searching for now? Check out this list of most popular eCatalog author searches over the last month.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Old Maps Online
The site, maintained by the University of Portsmouth and funded by the Joint Systems Information Committee (JISC), contains maps from The British Library and the David Rumsey Collection in California, among others. The site offers easy access to maps that were already online, but nearly impossible to find.
The site was designed to work like the familiar Google maps. It opens to a map of your local area. Users can then zoom out and reposition as needed or use the search box to navigate to a place by name. Available maps are listed on the right side of the screen. A timeline feature at the top allows users to limit results to any period between 1000 and 2010.
Old Maps Online will add more maps, including the collections of Harvard University, the New York Public Library and the Bodleian Library at Oxford, by the end of the year.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Is Your Information Diet a Healthy Diet?
I recently discovered a fascinating and important new book, The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption by Clay Johnson.
The book discusses the overwhelming amount of information available to (often even forced upon) us, and the fact that most of us do not pay much attention to whether the information we consume is quality or junk.
When it comes to food, most people now understand the importance of a healthy diet. We should, argues Johnson, pay just as much attention to choosing quality information as we do to choosing nutritious food. Instead, most of our 'information diets' are made up of too much entertainment and information that affirms what we already believe. We consume what tastes the best and ignore everything else.
"Just as food companies learned that if they want to sell a lot of cheap calories they should pack them with salt, fat, and sugar - the stuff people crave - media companies have learned that affirmation sells a lot better than information. Who wants to hear the truth, when they can hear that they are right?" Ever-increasing personalization features make the problem worse. Your Google search results, your Facebook news feed and even your newspaper are becoming tailored specifically to you. The result: you are only able to consume information that you already agree with.
Rather than an instruction manual, The Information Diet is a guide to critical thinking for the 21st century. The book does contain some specific tips. Johnson suggests focusing on "raw" information - information from as close to the source as possible. He advises focusing on local information and consciously seeking a variety of perspectives. Primarily, though, Johnson encourages us to pay attention. Junk information is the same as junk food. Just because its available, doesn't mean it won't harm you. As one reviewer said "This book is simultaneously challenging, helpful and worrying".
Learn More:
The book discusses the overwhelming amount of information available to (often even forced upon) us, and the fact that most of us do not pay much attention to whether the information we consume is quality or junk.
When it comes to food, most people now understand the importance of a healthy diet. We should, argues Johnson, pay just as much attention to choosing quality information as we do to choosing nutritious food. Instead, most of our 'information diets' are made up of too much entertainment and information that affirms what we already believe. We consume what tastes the best and ignore everything else.
"Just as food companies learned that if they want to sell a lot of cheap calories they should pack them with salt, fat, and sugar - the stuff people crave - media companies have learned that affirmation sells a lot better than information. Who wants to hear the truth, when they can hear that they are right?" Ever-increasing personalization features make the problem worse. Your Google search results, your Facebook news feed and even your newspaper are becoming tailored specifically to you. The result: you are only able to consume information that you already agree with.
Rather than an instruction manual, The Information Diet is a guide to critical thinking for the 21st century. The book does contain some specific tips. Johnson suggests focusing on "raw" information - information from as close to the source as possible. He advises focusing on local information and consciously seeking a variety of perspectives. Primarily, though, Johnson encourages us to pay attention. Junk information is the same as junk food. Just because its available, doesn't mean it won't harm you. As one reviewer said "This book is simultaneously challenging, helpful and worrying".
Learn More:
- Reserve your library copy of The Information Diet: http://ecatalog/record=b1406550~S31
- Read The Information Diet Blog: http://www.informationdiet.com/
- Listen to an interview with Author Clay Johnson: http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2012/01/16/do-you-need-to-go-on-an-information-diet/
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