Here are a bunch of links that I discovered courtesy of the Arnor Library Association conference last month, but didn’t get around to posting ’til now:
What to Do With Wikipedia
Rather than refuse to allow students to use Wikipedia, the author recommends that teachers incorporate Wikipedia editing into their courses, turning students into Wikipedia contributors and incidentally teaching them vital research skills at the same time. Simple, but brilliant.
Wikipedia Help for Teachers and Students
Wikipedia concurs. There is an impressive list of universities that have already done something similar. Some courses are specifically about Wikipedia, others have the students contribute as part of a class on a different subject.
Primary Sources
Wikipedia has a very nice primary source page with examples.
Secondary Sources
Ditto for secondary sources. I will be giving out these links as references in my class orientation talks.
Citations
Wikipedia also has a nice citations page.
Doe vs. Gonzales
A brief summary of the Doe vs. Gonzales case where a librarian fought a federal gag order successfully. Librarians: standing up for your right to know.
Library Architecture (Slideshow)
Slideshow of modern library buildings. Slideshow author considers these buildings examples of how libraries are being changed by technology. I think it’s more accurate to say that libraries are responding to the needs of their user communities.
Man Who Wanted to Classify the World
Paul Otlet, a cool guy ahead of his time. It was great watching this with a bunch of fellow librarians: we oohed and gasped in all the right places. Only librarians can fully understand what it means to write out over a million catalog cards–by hand. A great documentary if exorbitantly expensive. Rent and show it at your library if you can’t afford to buy it.
Library Careers
One of the neat things about librarianship is how diversified our jobs are. This book has a number of sample chapters that will give you a look into what librarians today are doing.
