This came to me through a friend on the SC Assistive Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC)….
http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=42563
Excerpt:
Visions of future technology don’t involve being chained to a desktop
machine. People move from home computers to work computers to mobile
devices; public kiosks pop up in libraries, schools and hotels; and
people increasingly store everything from e-mail to spreadsheets on the
Web.
But for the roughly 10 million people in the United States who are blind
or visually impaired, using a computer has, so far, required special
screen-reading software typically installed only on their own machines.
New software, called WebAnywhere, launched today lets blind and visually
impaired people surf the Web on the go. The tool developed at the
University of Washington turns screen-reading into an Internet service
that reads aloud Web text on any computer with speakers or headphone
connections.
“This is for situations where someone who’s blind can’t use their own
computer but still wants access to the Internet. At a museum, at a
library, at a public kiosk, at a friend’s house, at the airport,” said
Richard Ladner, a UW professor of computer science and engineering. The
free program and both audio and video demonstrations are at
http://webanywhere.cs.washington.edu.”
What are librarians in South Carolina doing to encourage young people to join our profession? We are all aware of the impending turnover, due to retirements, in our state’s library leadership. This year several library directors retired from county public libraries, and more are leaving in 2009. What can libraries do now to “grow our own” replacement staff?
Libraries can and should encourage people of color – people who mirror the ethnic and language characteristics of their service communities – to consider librarianship. While good customer service is, of course, independent of race or language, there is still a unique comfort factor for, for instance, Spanish speakers in being greeted in the library by a familiar welcoming phrase. South Carolina has one of the fastest growing populations of Latinos/Hispanics in the nation, but very few of our librarians speak Spanish, and fewer still are of Hispanic origin.
We might take a look at the youth we are hiring to help out in our libraries. Teens are looking for ideas for their future careers, and these young years are a window of opportunity for planting the seeds of librarianship. And now that the School of Library and Information Science at USC has added a “Bachelor of Science in Information Science” program, a new educational option is open for those who aspire to library careers.
In the spirit of pondering the “top ten” of important information bites, here are ten I like a lot. This list from LiveScience came out in March of this year. Plenty of life-changing innovation to think about here, especially for library folks. Take a look at Number Ten! (http://www.livescience.com/ has a running feature on Top Tens in science and natural phenomena, if you enjoy this kind of thing.)
Such is the world we live in today. I’m blogging about a blog post that was blogged by Helene Blowers at LibraryBytes.
As blogged by Paul Williams over at Think For Change.
…..I thought I would give out my Top Ten of Making Innovation Happen Every Day:
- Innovation MUST be tied to the organizational strategy
- Innovation MUST be on the leadership agenda and discussed at every leadership meeting
- Innovation MUST be led by at least one C-Level or SVP-Level person
- Ideas (from ANY source) MUST have a path/process to follow
- Customers/Consumer MUST have a voice
- Resources (People, Money & Time) MUST be made available for innovation
- A culture of risk taking, fast failure, experimentation and imagination MUST exist and be supported/protected
- The organization MUST be made up of skilled and diverse individuals who are set “free”
- The organization MUST seek to be a leader of “next practices” not a follower of “best practices”
- The organization MUST have the courage to KILL projects, ideas, lines of business, etc. that don’t work
In 2006 the American Indian Library Association (AILA), an affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA), created a Youth Literature Award to identify and honor excellence in writing and illustrating by and about Native Americans for youth. Awards are given biennially in three categories: Best Picture Book, Best Middle School Book, and Best Young Adult Book. Winners receive $500, a plaque, and a custom-made beaded medallion seal.
The 2008 winners are:
Best Picture Book:
Tingle, Tim. Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom.
Best Middle School Book:
Medicine Crow, Joseph. Counting Coup: Becoming a Crow Chief on the Reservation and Beyond.
Best Young Adult Book:
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
