Another day, another round of asking the question, “Why don’t men read more books?” As usual, women are held up as the culprits when these sorts of questions are asked. Even though everyone genteelly refuses to blame women—instead choosing to honor their accomplishments and acknowledge how sexism shapes behavior—the answer persistently comes back to, “Because women dictate publishing and therefore women’s tastes dominate.” But the answer doesn’t quite satisfy, and I think it’s because people are asking the wrong question. The right question is, “Why do women read so many books?”

Read entire story. Click here. Respond below.

From NBC Bay Area, May 5, 2010 –

Students at a Central Coast private high school are trading in their textbooks for something a little less bulky but chock full of more information: iPads.

Watsonville’s Monte Vista Christian School pre-ordered 70 iPads when the hot item when on sale and put them to use right away. Advanced placement English students were the first to get their hands on the gadgets and so far, the high-tech tools are getting rave reviews.

“It just speeds things up. So there’s less time for pull out your books.” said senior Estelle Richardson. “What if someone forgot their books? They have to go to their locker.”

Teachers say the students are better note-takers with the iPads, as the apps make it easier and more efficient. Money to buy each $500 iPad comes from renting out the facility during the summer.

Click here for the complete story.

New York Times,  April 30, 2010

Read the entire article here! Think and respond below!

One of the concerns is that, unlike their parents — many of whom recall having intense childhood relationships with a bosom buddy with whom they would spend all their time and tell all their secrets — today’s youths may be missing out on experiences that help them develop empathy, understand emotional nuances and read social cues like facial expressions and body language. With children’s technical obsessions starting at ever-younger ages — even kindergartners will play side by side on laptops during play dates — their brains may eventually be rewired and those skills will fade further, some researchers believe.

Read the entire article here! Think and respond below!

Professor Is a Label That Leans to the Left

The overwhelmingly liberal tilt of university professors has been explained by everything from outright bias to higher I.Q. scores. Now new research suggests that critics may have been asking the wrong question. Instead of looking at why most professors are liberal, they should ask why so many liberals — and so few conservatives — want to be professors.

A pair of sociologists think they may have an answer: typecasting. Conjure up the classic image of a humanities or social sciences professor, the fields where the imbalance is greatest: tweed jacket, pipe, nerdy, longwinded, secular — and liberal. Even though that may be an outdated stereotype, it influences younger people’s ideas about what they want to be when they grow up.

Continue reading. Click here.

Thanks to Margaret van Baaren for sending this article to us.

Devices to Take Textbooks Beyond Text

As a library director, and someone who has worked in libraries for over 20 years, I have some opinions.  But what do you, dear reader, think about the topic?

In the most recent USA Today article about his decision to de-book (print on paper) the library, Cushing’s head Jim Tracey says:  It was really to save libraries five, 10, 15 years down the road,” he says. “What the students are telling us is: ‘We’re not using the print books. You can keep giving them to us, but they’re just going to collect dust.’ So we’re saying, ‘Let’s be honest: Let’s give them the best electronic information available.’    To read the entire article click here.

Read, think and respond to the queries opening this blog post.

                                                             – Alison Ernst, Library Director

image: http://www.photoeverywhere.co.uk

Why Email No Longer Rules… And what that means for the way we communicate.

“Email has had a good run as the king of communications. But it’s reign is over.”  To read the article, click here.

Well, what do you think? How are your communication patterns developing? Is the article an target or way off?

                                                             – Alison Ernst, Library Director

What are the childhood books you return to again and again, and why?

                                                                            – Alison Ernst, Library Director

Hilarious image by Asher Sarlin, via LifeHacker.com

From Information is Beautiful
Sept.8, 2009

The Hierarchy of Digital Distractions

I notice these days that I can spend hours at my computer, in a cloud. A swampy blur of digital activity, smeared across various activities and media and software.

Emailing, writing, tweeting, designing, browsing, taking calls, Skyping, Facebooking, RSS Feeding – all blurred into a single technological trance.

I seem to switch randomly from one to the other. But actually is there a subtle hierarchy in this cloud? Do I prefer some distractions over others? I think so.

Continue reading the article here /Read – Think – Respond

By Mike Musgrove

The Washington Post, Sunday, September 6, 2009

Sometimes, 140 characters isn’t nearly enough.

That’s the premise behind a droll Web site recently launched by a couple of Washington-based friends. While the microblogging site Twitter caps entries at 140 keystrokes, the parody site Woofer requires entries a minimum of 1,400 keystrokes. It’s a macroblogging site, you see.

Continue reading the article here.