the Virtual Bookmark

Open Letter to MacLean's magazine

Open Letter to MacLean's magazine: June 17

Dear MacLean's,

I just read your recent eNews from your mail list. Our school library prides itself in open and objective access to information for all patrons. We read your Universities edition every year. Despite the occasional statistical flaws, we usually buy extra copies for our faculty, parents and Gr.12 students. My current concern is not your special edition but rather the pattern of journalism recently displayed since the fall 2007.

As a high school library in Canada, we always try hard to purchase Canadian content; however, recent editions of MacLean's has disgruntled so many patrons, we are considering canceling our subscription. Despite your efforts to engage education markets with projects, initiatives, and free access, the 'shock and fear' theme represented by your recent covers is deteriorating the educational value of your periodical. Experienced readers may be able to filter out the obvious marketing ploy but teens are not so critical.

As an experienced librarian, I have used MacLean's content as a support resource for many courses but lately MacLean's is so gratuitous in 'fear culture' in an apparent effort to sell issues, we will be soon using your periodical as an example of journalistic hyperbole and debatable integrity. Rather than the objective and well written publication, that provided canadian content of integrity, we are now having to teach students to 'filter' out the 'pulp fiction'.

We may as well be reading Newsweek or the New York Times! Please forward this feedback to your editorial team.

In the spirit of national pride and fair selections and acquisitions, our school library will subscribe for one more year- as a period of grace. We hope to see improvement in the reliable Canadian news digest we once cherished! Feel free to respond to our concerns.

sincerely,

Al Smith
Kelowna

Compulsion to Connect?

COMPULSION TO CONNECT? FACEBOOK ADDICTION DISORDER?
by Judith Comfort, Dr. Charles Best Secondary

If you are worried that you, or a friend might be addicted to Facebook, answer this questionnaire, HONESTLY. If you score above 80 - acknowledge that you have a problem and immediately seek help from a parent, family doctor, teacher or counsellor.   

"The Facebook Addiction Test (FAT) is the first validated and reliable measure of addictive use of the Facebook."

Answer the following questions using this scale:

1 = Rarely
2 = Occasionally.
3 = Frequently.
4 = Often.
5 = Always.
0 = Does Not Apply

1. How often do you find that you stay on Facebook longer than you intended?
2. How often do you neglect household chores to spend more time on Facebook?
3. How often do you prefer the excitement of the Facebook to face-to-face friends?
4. How often do you form new relationships with fellow Facebook users?
5. How often do others in your life complain to you about the amount of time you spend Facebook?
6. How often do your grades or school work suffer because of the amount of time you spend on Facebook?
7. How often do you check your e-mail before something else that you need to do?
8. How often does your job performance or productivity suffer because of Facebook?
9. How often do you become defensive or secretive when anyone asks you what you do on Facebook?
10. How often do you block out disturbing thoughts about your life with soothing thoughts of the Facebook
11. How often do you find yourself anticipating when you will go on Facebook again?
12. How often do you fear that life without Facebook would be boring, empty, and joyless?
13. How often do you snap, yell, or act annoyed if someone bothers you while you are Facebook?
14. How often do you lose sleep due to late-night log-ins
15. How often do you feel preoccupied with the Facebook when off-line, or fantasize about being on Facebook?
16. How often do you find yourself saying "just a few more minutes" when on Facebook
17. How often do you try to cut down the amount of time you spend Facebook and fail?
18. How often do you try to hide how long you've been on Facebook
19. How often do you choose to spend more time Facebook over going out with others?
20. How often do you feel depressed, moody, or nervous when you are off-line, which goes away once you are back on Facebook?

Results: add up your score

After you've answered all the questions, add the numbers you selected for each response to obtain a final score. The higher your score, the greater the problem your Facebook usage causes. Here's a general scale to help measure your score:

20 - 49 points: You are an average Facebook user. You may surf Facebook a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage.

50 -79 points: You are experiencing occasional or frequent problems because   of Facebook. You should consider their full impact on your life.

80 - 100 points: Your Facebook usage is causing significant problems in your   life. You should evaluate the impact of Facebook on your life and address the problems directly caused by your Facebook usage.

DOWNLOAD:
Download facebook_addiction_disorde1.doc   |  Download facebook_addiction_disorde1.pdf

________________
Works Cited:

Adapted Source: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/17996

Comfort, J. "Compulsion to Connect." Dr. Charles Best Secondary School Library. URL.< www.bestlibrary.org >, 2008.

Internet Safety-Libraries

http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2008/05/12/internet-safety-issues-what-can-librarians-do/

Internet Safety Issues: What can librarians do?

Top Issues, Concerns and Questions from a public library perspective:

1.In a public school teachers have a captive space, in a library kids are not captive - you have to get creative to get kids to participate!
2.How do you keep up?
3.I want kids to be safe online as a parent and librarian, but I am not sure I know how to do that, or my role?
4.balancing safety and access
5.our constituents are our staff, the public, patrons, legislators: educating all about the role of a public library
6.how do we get seasoned professionals to see the value? (we referenced the diffusion of innovations graph)
7.Internet is ever changing / dynamic, how can we monitor the changes without becoming obsolete?
8.how do we fit this in with how we spend our time at work? (what is appropriate and not appropriate )
9.Classrooms are different: captive audience, year long relationship – librarians are in a different situation, how do we make an impact in our role?
10.Chat rooms and filtering are big issues: want to close down chats in some cases
11.People watching out for the children: it is not part of library policy but is a moral or social issue
12.No cheese with the whine
13.electronic gaming: hard to keep up, kids taking over the computer room
14.people have moved their role (CIPA) from protecting from objectionable content to keeping kids productive / on task
15.importance of boundaries and communication, texting, gaming
16.considering having teens make a social networking account (We discussed how a moderated and managed/controlled social networking environment like ning.com could be preferable to just having kids setup a MySpace page. We also discussed the importance of parent permission and getting signed forms for participation from them as well as kids.)
17.we may have to break bad habits
18.boundaries are so important: cell phone example, parents wanting that contact

Read more at:

http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2008/05/12/internet-safety-issues-what-can-librarians-do/

Borrow a Person from the Library

iLibrarian
http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/2008/borrow-a-person-from-the-library/

Living Library-

A Scandinavian event called the Living Library which lets patrons borrow human “books” is making its way around the UK according to the Times Online. During these special events, library readers are able to check out a person for up to 30 minutes for a one-on-one chat which will offer them the opportunity to learn about a different lifestyle, culture, ethnicity, etc. The books cataloged for the events include a wide variety of stereotypes including Gay Man, Police Officer, Person with Mental Health Difficulties, Muslim, Vegan, and Ex Gang Member.