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Learner’s Block?

Written on: June 9th, 2009 in Learning Journeys

Kathy here: System shutdown; project offline;no data entered…I could go on…but what it comes down to is that my brain is full. Picture the file cabinet that practically spews paper when you open it, almost daring you to try and stuff one more sheet of paper inside. That's where I stand. Does this surprise you? Let me try to explain.

Some picture their lifelong learning as a hike, some as a climb. From my childhood, mine has always felt like a river. There are times when it is so wide I can barely see the other side; and others when even I – at 4'11" – can hop across it. There are times when it rages ahead, whitewater all round; and others when it babbles along peacefully. Then, there are those times when a tree falls across the flow; debris builds up behind; the water is gradually choked off from true forward movement.  Again, that's where I stand. My brain is full; my river is blocked.

The answer? I just need to pull out the heavy equipment I keep in reserve for tree removal. First, I acknowledge where I am and take a step back. I spend time in nature, pull out favorite quote collections, visit amazing photograph sites such as  Webshots or sit for a hour or so in the picture book section of my public library. Second, I recognize that 99.9% of the time when that tree has fallen, it relates to a disorganized approach to information overload. So, I'm spending the next few days with my figurative backhoe moving that learning I must do away from that I wish to do, removing rocks along the way and smoothing the surface of both.

Remember, that river wants to flow.

Your Reviews- new feature

Written on: June 9th, 2009 in News, Reviews

We’ve blogged several times (here and here, for instance) about how Delaware Library patrons can write their own reviews and have their reviews display in the online catalog.

We recently implemented a categorization feature in Library Thing reviews- you can now check a box if you want your review to be featured in a specific category- At this point you can choose to select from “summer reading”, “teen books”, and “learning journeys” (the Division of Libraries Lifelong Learning project). This means that if you’re involved in a library program, such as a book group, all of the reviews for that program can be displayed together on a web page.

Take a look at any of the review links to see what it looks like. You’ll have to view the full catalog record for a book, click on “see reviews/add a review” and select “review this yourself” to see the new options.

While you’re there, write a review or two…

There aren’t any obvious limits on the amounts of categories that can be installed, so if you are interested in having your book club or a program at your library enabled as a review category, let me know. The output to your website, blog, or facebook account is a snippet of HTML that is easily installed and is available from the review module.