Early this year, Oracle, the database software maker, acquired Sun for $7.4 billion, leaving Mr. McNealy without a job. He has since decided to aim his energy and some money at Curriki, an online hub for free textbooks and other course material that he spearheaded six years ago.
“We are spending $8 billion to $15 billion per year on textbooks” in the United States, Mr. McNealy says. “It seems to me we could put that all online for free.”
From the New York Times.
Filed under Information, Reader's Advisory
The Book Depository has a mesmerizing interactive map that second by second maps book purchases across the globe. What fun to see what people are reading!
Filed under Information, Reader's Advisory
By Bonnie L. Cook
Inquirer Staff Writer
A striped kitten is fighting for its life at the Montgomery County SPCA after someone left him in the book drop of a library in Cheltenham Township, officials said Monday.
The male gray tabby was placed in the book drop at the La Mott Community Center, which doubles as a library, sometime overnight Thursday after the center closed at 9 p.m.
The kitten was discovered by a maintenance man at 7:30 a.m. Friday when he reported for work – and heard mewing from the drop box.
“He investigated, and lo and behold, it was a kitty,” said Kelly Rebitz, a center staffer.
Read article here.
Filed under Information, Public Libraries
Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age
NYT – “Professors used to deal with plagiarism by admonishing students to give credit to others and to follow the style guide for citations, and pretty much left it at that. But these cases — typical ones, according to writing tutors and officials responsible for discipline at the three schools who described the plagiarism — suggest that many students simply do not grasp that using words they did not write is a serious misdeed.”
Read more here.
Filed under Information
September is Library Card Sign-up Month, and the Sweetwater County Library System wants to make sure that all children in Rock Springs and Green River have the smartest card of all – a library card.
Public library programming and books for children make a difference in the lives of students. By providing school-age children with engaging programs and amazing collections, students from all backgrounds become excited and enthusiastic readers.
“A library card has always been the most important school supply of all,” says Cindy Moore. “Today’s libraries are thriving technology hubs that millions rely as either their first or only choice for computer and Internet access. In doing so, libraries provide children with not only the tools to be literate, but information literate as well. There’s a lot happening at all of the Sweetwater Libraries, and the best part for both children and parents – in these though economic times – is that it’s all free with a library card.”
Getting a library card is easy. Simply request an application at your library’s front desk and fill it out. The application is short and only takes a few minutes to complete. You will be required to provide a picture ID before a library card can be issued to you. A parent or guardian’s signature is required for applicants under the age of 16.
You will not receive your card immediately after completing your application; your card will be mailed to you within the week. You may check out any two (2) items after your application has been completed. Upon receipt of your card your borrowing privileges will be extended to include the following: books, audio-books and periodicals, seven (7) DVDs, seven (7) VHS tapes and seven (7) music CDs.
Borrowing periods are as follows: three (3) days for AV equipment, seven (7) days for DVDs, VHS tapes, and music CDs, twenty-one (21) days for all other library items.
During the month of September, all library card holders may turn in their old library cards in exchange for a new one. The new library cards also come with a key chain card, making having your card convenient for everyone!
Observed since 1987, Library Card Sign-up Month is a time when the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country remind parents that a library card is the most important school supply of all.
For more information on how to sign up for a library card, visit one of your the Sweetwater County Libraries or visit online at http://www.sweetwaterlibraries.com.
Facebook may be the de facto social network of, frankly, almost everyone, but that doesn’t mean you have to use Facebook exactly the way its creators, or your Farmville-addicted friends, want you to. Here are 10 tweaks to make Facebook better.
Read all the instruction by from Lifehacker here.
Filed under Information, technology
Whereas, the smartest card is a library card;
Whereas, in times of economic hardship, Americans turn to – and depend on – their libraries and librarians;
Whereas, libraries nationwide design and offer programs tailored to meet their local community’s economic needs;
Whereas, public library staff help students learn how to perform age-appropriate Internet searches, online tutoring and Web-based resources for homework help using free, public-access computers;
Whereas, children who have library cards and use the library perform better in school;
Whereas, by motivating children to read, librarians create lifelong readers, and that makes for better citizens, which makes for a healthier democracy;
Whereas, the most important school supply of all is a library card;
Whereas, be it resolved that September is Library Card Sign-Up Month in Rock Springs and Green River, Wyoming and we encourage everyone to sign up for the smartest card @ your library.
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