Goodbye Grokker

'Tis a sad day. I just found out Grokker.com is no more. I was hoping that the fact I couldn't get to it was just a server problem, but I found out today it is gone. Ironically, I had to use Google to find out about it. Anyway, sounds like they ran out of money. Too bad. It was a great resource. Hopefully it will come back again someday.

All Praise to the Google!

I will be teaching a research strategies class next semester. I plan on teaching my students all kinds of cool ways to search for sources of information other than using Google. I'm hoping students actually sign up for my class, because the following strip encapsulates student thought on research:




Yes. This is what I'm up against.

"Z" for Zotero

It's that time of year. The leaves are changing color and falling gently to the ground. There is a nip in our Colorado air. We are about half-way through the semester, which means it is time to start that research paper! Its not easy keeping track of all those books, articles and website you find for your papers. Yellow stickie notes flutter around you like those falling leaves. And you don't have access to RefWorks or EndNotes. What do you do?

Thanks to William B. Badke and his book, Research Strategies: Finding your Way Through the Information Fog, I learned about a FREE bibliographic organizer and citation generator called Zotero. It is an extension of Firefox. It allows you to keep track of your sources as you perform your research. If you find a web page that you want remember, it will allow you to link it, and it gives you all of the bibliographic information you need to cite it.

For instance, I have been reading a wonderful book called, Church History in Plain Language by Bruce L. Shelley. I wanted to put this book in my Zotero library, so I went to Google books and found it. An icon of a book appeared in the box that shows the URL. I simply clicked on that icon, and all of the bibliographic information downloaded into my library. Since I am reading the paper edition of the book, I added to the record the library I borrowed the book from and its call number. It also has the ability for you to add notes, tags and relate documents to each other. If you can't find the book information online, you can always enter it by filling in the fields available for the different kinds of materials: books, journal articles, websites, etc.

You can always access your Zotero library by clicking on the "Zotero" icon that is always present in the lower right hand corner of your Firefox window.

The great thing about that is that I can then choose which citation style I need to use (I use Turabian) and print out a bibliography. It also has add-ons for Microsoft Word and OpenOffice so you can use Zotero to footnote or endnote your paper. And again, it can generate a bibliography for you.

Of course you should always double check the citations that Zotero prints out to make sure they are correct. But it is a great way to get started.

You will need to download the software. I did and I haven't had any problems. There are two versions, 1.0.10 and 2.0b7.4 beta. I decided to download the 1.0.10 since I didn't know if I really needed some of the collaborative things the beta version has. The more I use Zotero, however, I might decide to try the beta version.

The only downside to Zotero is that you have to be online to use it. If you are regularly someplace where you do not have internet access, this won't work. But if you needs something to help you keep track of all those sources, give Zotero a try.

UPDATE: I have been made aware that you can use Zotero offline. You can manage your sources, print bibliographies and add sources to your library manually. You just can't add via the internet. The good thing about that is you can use it to add citations, footnotes, etc. while you are offline. Cool!

Bing, Fast Flip and Espresso

I am amazed at the constantly changing landscape of information retrieval and access. In one article today there were 2 different new tools available from search engines. As I was checking them out, I found out about something that affects public domain books. Its hard to keep up.

The two new things I tried out were Bing's visual search and Google's Fast Flip.

Putting aside the "ick factor" of visual searching (do we even need to read anymore?) I thought I would give the visual search a try. It clearly is not to be used for academic research (not that there's anything wrong with that). If you just want fluffy pop culture, there you go. Again, pushing aside my bias, I clicked on "dog breeds." A lovely box came up saying I need to install some Microsoft software to run this program. At this point, I had it and clicked "cancel." I really don't want to download more software I will never use. So, if you want, go ahead and try it and let me know what you think.

Next I tried Google's Fast Flip. At least I didn't have to download any new software. It is in beta, so I don't know if it will be around forever. I kind of like it. It allows you to scan the articles they post from 39 publications. You can browse by publication, topic, most viewed, magazine section (e.g., Health, Travel, World News), etc.

As I scanned the "Recent" section, I ran across an article in the Christian Science Monitor about a partnership between Google and On Demand Books to instantly publish public domain books using the Espresso Book Machine. I've read about these book machines being used in large universities to print out textbooks, but now these books are beginning to find their way into the mainstream.

I find a strange juxtaposition in this. You can access these books for free online through Google Books. You can get most of these books from a bunch of different web sources. We've been told that ebooks are catching on, Kindle is becoming huge and print books will some day be no more. And yet, Google makes a relationship with a company that prints books. I don't know how it will all end up, but I don't think the print book will go down without a fight.

A Little Library Humor

I'm currently in the process of writing some lesson plans to teach a class at Rivendell College next semester on research strategies and information literacy. No yawning, its important stuff. But because a topic like that can make people get a little soporific, I wanted to find some amusing YouTube videos in connection with libraries and research that might entertain the students and lighten the mood. I ran across this gem from 1946:



"I don't know who wrote it, or what the title was, but I know it was a blue book."

"Well, you are in luck, young man. We have all of the blue books over here!" (What I wish the librarian had said.)

I also love the microfilm machine. Looks like it was the first one invented. I'm sure Edison wanted it back.

School starts again

School is off to a busy start. Rivendell College started classes on Monday morning and the library has been used right away. It makes me happy to have a place where all the books can be in one room! With chairs, desks, a copy machine and even a sofa.

I'm excited that I've been able to help the students get to know some of our free online library resources. Two of our classes have assignments having them come in the library and speak with me about good websites for different subjects (thanks Bill!). The students are always amazed at the amount of quality material that is out there on the web. You just have to filter through a lot of junk sometimes to get to it. That's way I put it all in one place.

I am so looking forward to this school year and all the learning that will be going on.

Queen and Commonwealth

During our time in London, we did LOTS of stuff. In addition to the wonderful exhibitions at the British Library, we had the great pleasure of going to through the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace. The Palace is open for just a few weeks each year in the summer when the Queen goes on holiday. We were there the second day it was open! Truthfully, I planned our trip so that we would be able to go to the Palace. It was amazing. I was overwhelmed at its beauty, the stuff on the walls, the history and importance of it all.

One of the neat things we got to see was a special exhibition of some of the Queen's dresses she wore on her Commonwealth trips throughout her reign. It is called "Queen and Commonwealth Exhibition." My daughter LOVED this exhibition, as did I. We marveled at the stunning dresses and saw how small in stature the Queen is when looking at her dresses close up. There are also many gifts given to Her Majesty on her different trips on display. Those were cool to see, too.

Of course photography is strictly forbidden in the Palace, so I don't have any pictures of the exhibit. I did find a short YouTube video from The Royal Channel that shows the Queen going through the exhibition before it opened. You can see the dresses behind her. Check it out.



If you live in London, or are going to be there before September 30, go through the Palace. It is worth it.

I really should work for the London Tourist Board.