Teaching Others About Technology (LT130)

 By Angela Naranjo       Many academic libraries have LibGuides that focus on “point-of-need research,” that help guide students through using the databases and properly citing your research (Burchfield and Possinger 2). These LibGuides have easy to read step-by-step instructions on how to plan your research and use the databases to find peer reviewed works with proper evidence, other forms of LibGuides help with citing your found article correctly in the format needed. These LibGuides are created by librarians and are created to focus student success and guide them in making the research process easier.  Although these LibGuides have been created for students to have an easier time doing their research, statistics have shown that librarians who are subject specialists in their areas may not have all the necessary skills to translate their knowledge in ways students can understand (Burchfield and Possinger 2). In order for more student success with LibGui...

 By Angela Naranjo  Digital storytelling is storytelling through media, stories can be told through photos, audio, texts, videos, and at times social media elements or interactive elements. The key to digital storytelling is to keep a good pace throughout the story and allow your voice to personalize the story so the audience can understand and relate. Some of the benefits of digital storytelling, is the positive effects it can have on social emotional health, has shown to develop emotional intelligence, and develop important 21st century literacies (Xu, et.al. 2). Reminiscence is another form of storytelling with the same benefits that has been used with digital storytelling to help older adults reminisce about events in their lives and especially helps older adults with dementia or Alzheimer's.  Various research studies were conducted with older adults to determine how effective using digital storytelling and reminiscence is. Some studies paired older adults with an...

By Angela Naranjo    Many libraries over the years have tried their hardest to keep up with the growth of technology and their trends. Some libraries have now added a 3-D printer and allow customers to design a project and a librarian will create it for them, and then it can be purchased by how much material they use. However, many libraries in rural areas are being affected by the digital divide, due to lack of technological equipment and funding.   In 2012, a survey was conducted by Public Library Funding and Technology Access Survey (PLFTAS), finding that rural libraries have weaker technological infrastructure and fewer support services (Real, et. al.7). Because rural libraries are the only free internet or computer access points in many of their areas, they provide about 70.3% of services to their customers. And in present time, public libraries, especially libraries in rural areas are still the primary source of internet and device access. These issues stem f...

     By Angela Naranjo     BYOD or “Bring your own device,” refers to allowing individuals to bring their own devices or use their own devices to school or the workplace rather than using the devices provided. Over time, these practices have grown in the education system and the workplace.       BYOD in the classroom has created many opportunities for students to grow their learning but has also raised some questions about security. Some opportunities that teachers have stated about BYOD are that students are now able to interact with other students worldwide through skype (Bruder). It also allows teachers to create more interactive assignments in which students use their microphones and cameras to communicate (Bruder). Then there are the questions about security, whether the internet can be overused with so many devices connected, causing it to slow down and the concern of storage for devices. Many schools have created their own policie...

  Cloud Computing in Libraries by Michelle Amundson Cloud computing refers to computer services that are not located locally, but are instead offered over the Internet, or the “Cloud”. Some of the services that can be provided are storage, software, servers, and networking services. Libraries are beginning to use this service, but as with anything, there are pros and cons to cloud computing for libraries. One of the positives brought about by cloud computing is the flexibility in services, as well as lower cost as it is more cost effective than having these sorts of services locally. A negative can be issues of privacy. As with anything hosted online, information can be vulnerable to hackers and data leaks, but there are options that address these points.Third party services are available at a lower cost but there are more at risk for issues of privacy, private cloud servers can be the solution for this, but of course, at a higher cost. Somewhere in between is a hybrid cloud model,...

 The gadget I added to our blog is a "contact form". I chose to add this gadget because I think it's a great resource for the people viewing our blog to contact us regarding information, questions, or comments. 

What is cloud computing, and what does it mean for libraries? Let’s start by defining cloud computing. Cloud computing is the method of setting up a computer system that, rather than running locally, runs over the Internet. For an example, we will look at the difference between Microsoft Word and Google Docs. Both are word processors, allowing their users to write, edit, and save documents. However, Microsoft Word operates on your personal computer, and the documents are saved only to your personal computer. If you need to access a document on your home computer while you are at work, you are out of luck. However, Google Docs operates “in the cloud”, or over the Internet. When you create and save a Google Doc, it does not save to your computer, but rather to a server somewhere in a Google building. When you access it, you are using the Internet to connect to that server. This means you can access it from any computer where you are logged into your Google account, so long as you ha...