newest stories

newest stories

Cross-posting, by Paloma Cruz

Shameless promotion of headlines in my other blogs:

Bilingual Life

• undocumented immigrants being charged with criminal trespassing
• 16 years of Café Tacuba/ "La Vibra, the Houston Chronicle’s Spanish weekly entertainment supplement, has Café Tacuba as their cover story last week. The story is, of course, in Spanish, but it covers their career and talks about their next concert (last Saturday in Houston)."
• a brief history of anti-immigration. "Metroblogging’s Paul Chavez walks us through the history of anti-immigration sentiments in this country in a post about the Minutemen coming to Houston."

Houston Life

• City events

Library Life

• A Texas Digital Library. "Four Texas university systems and Rice University will collaborate on a digital repository whose goal is to offer online resources, such as teaching aids, dissertations, and practical information, although not books."
• Sunday hours added to Houston Libraries
• returning library books on time. "LifeHacker recently published a post entitled How to finish library books on time which has a link to a tabbed system to… well, finish library books on time and (here’s the important part) return them on time as well."

Ordinary Life

• I’m in a mood - welcome to retail therapy. "These posts will be things I want to buy, but can’t. It’ll be a virtual shopping bag, just shy of actually taking things to the checkout counter to pay for them."

Pasadena Life

• watching Emily. "In case you haven’t been paying attention, Hurricane Emily is headed to Texas."
• senior health workshop. "If you’d like help in understanding the new Medicare Prescription Drug Program taking effect in 2006, the Madison Jobe Senior Center is teaming up with the Pasadena District Social Security Office to host a free workshop, Tuesday, July 19th, 2 - 3 p.m., to explain the details to you."
• great Pasadena photo. "Houston Photobloggers has a fabulous photo of Capitan Theatre, in Pasadena. As far as I can tell, it’s the only photo of Pasadena in their collection, but certainly worth a look."
• the city of Pasadena has a budget… sort of. "At first glance, Pasadena’s 2006-10 budget forecast may look bleak. However, the document is intended to give the city a starting off point to plan for the future."

Public Relations life

• work for Gizmodo. "Gawker Media is expanding its technology coverage, and is seeking to fill the following positions. All these roles are full-time, and paid accordingly, though we take a relaxed attitude towards external freelance."
• do I own this brand? "The redesign of the Diva Marketing Blog has prompted a discussion centered on the question who owns a brand?"
• are bloggers journalists? "This is a question that comes up frequently in my life, from both ends of the issue. If I’m covering a topic in one of my blogs and request information from a company or organization, should they treat me the same as they would a Houston Chronicle reporter? At the same time, if a photoblogger calls my office wanting to set up a shoot of one of my clients’ buildings, would I give him or her the same consideration as… say, a photographer from 002+ Magazine?"
• the wonderful world of media relations. "John Wagner’s comments in Now It’s The Corporate PR Folks’ Turn To Be Slammed about his experience with the media has had me thinking about the adversarial quality of my daily dealings with the members of the press. And I’ve been thinking about the many things I do, every day, to make those dealings better."
• PR blogging isn’t ego polishing…"…or so says John Wagner in his post PR Bloggers Not All In It For Self-Promotion. In it he responds to some recent criticism and attacks that public relations professionals have received, in particular PR bloggers."

teaching life

• Operation Backpack. "It’s the city’s largest ever school supply drive."
• more seniors are raising their grandchildren. "I come from a family of teachers, so I’ve pretty much heard every teaching story you can think of. I know, my sisters know, and all teachers know that more children are being raised by their grandparents these days than ever before."
• back to school at Pasadena ISD. "The Pasadena ISD Web site has a Back to School Guide up to help parents get ready for the August return date. Here you will find everything from enrollment processes to meal prices and school holidays. Worth a visit."
• a blog to save Fort Bend ISD. "A good example of how a community blog can generate conversation and interest in a grassroots initiative."

Web Junkie life

• the value of a wiki. "The Chronicle: Wired Campus Blog has this wonderful post describing the true value of a wiki, Disaster Response, via Wikis."
• how to be a more productive blogger
• the 50 Coolest Websites of 2005
• productivity tip: stop checking your email
• now I’ve heard everything… Wayback Machine is being sued

news posts, on the new site - 7/11

Here are the wonderful posts you've missed so far at the new home of stories from a Library life:

• show your love
• Library wikis
• returning library books on time
• book donation for hospitalized children
• reading club for Seniors
• nominate your favorite librarian

moving to Word Press

(...reprint from Paloma Cruz...)

After testing Word Press for several weeks, and comparing it to Blogger, I've decided to move my blog projects to the palomacruz.com domain and update using WP. What that means is that I'm going to begin reposting everything from the blogspot.com sites to palomacruz.com. It also means that all new posts are going on the new locations.

Reasons why I'm making the change

More control over posts. The ability to track statistics. Trackbacks. More control over commenting. Hundreds of themes.

I like it better.

I'm thinking about moving this update log from MovableType to WP as well.

I'm still thinking about it.

***

The new address for stories from a Library life is: library.palomacruz.com.

Good news for Houston libraries

The recent approval of the city of Houston budget brought some good news for Houston libraries, and not a moment too soon.

KHOU recently reported: "Over the past five years, budgets cuts have not been kind to Houston's public libraries. Since 2000, 30 percent of library material funds have been slashed. That has forced some communities to raise funds of their own in support of their local branch."

This was in response to the community around the Houston Public Library Johnson Branch coming together to raise funds to buy more books and computers for that branch.

Of course, anyone paying attention knows that library budgets are being slashed across the country. Many communities are losing libraries, as cities are being forced to close branches to respond to budget challenges.

Not so in the city of Houston. Though hours have been reduced, the reduction has been minimal.

Sunday hours back at some libraries, reported the Houston Chronicle earlier this week. "Approval this week of the city's $1.69 billion budget for fiscal 2006 brought good news to the Houston Public Library, which next month will restore Sunday hours to four regional branch locations... In addition, two branch libraries, which never provided Sunday service, will be open Sunday afternoons."

In addition, "The library system was allocated almost $30 million in the budget approved Wednesday, a sum that included a 15 percent increase for materials acquisitions."

Good news all around.

tools and items of interest... to me

Tools

• Found via Library Technology in Texas, Plogress. Here's her summary: "Plogress.com is a relatively new web site that tracks legislation your federal Congressmen are working on. The neat part is that you can subscribe to an RSS feed for each. For example, I found the list of Texas Congressmen and clicked on Kay Bailey Hutchinson's name. There, I see all the current information on the legislation she is working on, as well as roll call votes. In the left column is the term "RSS." Now, any updated information concerning this legislation comes to me." Having only recently discovered BlogLines, I know that I'm going to add the relevant RSS feeds to my account. If nothing else, I'd like to see what my people are up to these days.
• Found via h20boro lib blog, Acronym Search: "Acronyma provides a simple way to search for the meaning of more than 460,000 acronyms, in several languages (English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch, Italian, and Portuguese)"
• Found at LifeHacker, What Does That Mean? catchphrase dictionary. "New wiki What Does That Mean? is a reader-built index of English catchphrases and idioms from around the world. So if an Aussie says you’re a flamin’ turkey at least you’ll know you’re being called an idiot. I recommend the “Random Page” link on the left sidebar to see some regional catchphrases on shuffle. Fuhgeddaboudit. "

Reading

• From Hispanic Ad, Parents Are Building A Nation Of Young Readers. "According to a national survey released by Target, more than three in four parents with children under eight (78%) read to their children every day for at least 20 minutes, many keeping their kids engaged by acting out characters or singing passages. Overall, 97% of parents with young children read to them, and 93% do so at least two or three nights a week, the survey found."
• Found via h20boro lib blog, New Books for Kids and Teens for Summer. "Seattlepi.com provides short synopses for about 40 books for kids and teens this summer -- eagerly awaited sequels, picture books, chapter books, books for teens, non-fiction, poetry, and classics and reissues."

Summer Fun

From Encarta:

• Road Trip Reading: Great Summer Travel Destinations
• 10 Great Travel Adventure and Discovery Books
• 10 Books You Should (Re)Discover

news headlines, other things & my occasional comment

Internet Access

• From Library Technology in Texas, Public Library Internet Access. "According to a study from Florida State University, almost all -- 98.9% -- public libraries now offer free public Internet access... About 85% of public library outlets have insufficient workstations to meet patrons' needs at least part of the day."

Library Tools & Resources

• From Library Stories: Libraries & Librarians in the News, Free Resources: The Newberry Library’s Historic Maps in K-12 Classrooms.
• From Library Stuff, Combine Blogs, RSS, Wikis, and Online Reference... "and you get (kinda) L-net."
• From Library Stuff, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism RSS Feeds. "They've got 5 of 'em + J-School Student Stories + J-School Faculty Stories + North Gate News Online + J-School Events + China Digital Times."
• From Library Technology in Texas, Innovative Incorporates RSS Feeds. "Librarians will be able to insert any RSS feed into any location within the Web OPAC screens. You should be able to decide how many headlines to display and whether to include the description or date."

Filters

The Library Journal reported Consumer Reports: Internet Filters Better But Still Flawed. Excerpt:

The latest tests by Consumer Reports (CR) of filtering software show that filters targeting the home market are now better at blocking pornography—but also tend to overblock. Additionally, CR found the software less effective at blocking sites promoting hatred, illegal drugs, or violence. Of course, the tests were aimed at home use, so they assessed a broader range of blocking than libraries typically would consider, and considered many products not used by libraries.

“The best porn blockers were heavy-handed against sites about health issues, sex education, civil rights and politics,” the magazine reported, also recommending that parents supervise their children’s web use. A sidebar on school and library filters noted that librarians and educators can help customize the filtering systems, making sure it aims to block objectionable sites without interfering excessively with legitimate ones.

My experience with filters has been that the ones that do the best job block the least amount of items. That means that they filter with a light touch, being judicious in what is filtered. That also means that the filter is calibrated by humans and not an algorithm. I think that works best.

Dear Abby's controversy

Have you read the LIBRARIAN'S PLEA FOR LIBRARY ETIQUETTE? Know what I'm talking about?

In the past few months there has been a flurry of librarian write-ins to Dear Abby, sparked by a letter entitled "A LIBRARIAN'S PLEA FOR LIBRARY ETIQUETTE." Many librarians have voiced their opinions either in support of the letter or against. Not since the Patriot Act have I seen so much public response to one item.

For your viewing pleasure, here are some links to get caught up with the entire saga:

• Dear Abby's "LIBRARIAN WRITES THE BOOK ON ETIQUETTE FOR PATRONS," which contains the original "A LIBRARIAN'S PLEA FOR LIBRARY ETIQUETTE."
• One rebuttal, in the Houston Chronicle's Dear Abby column, "Library etiquette is under the gun." This was signed "ANTI-SHUSHER in Miami."

Girls read, boys don't

Found at h20boro lib blog, Reading is Something Girls Do.

An article by Sue Corbett in the Miami Herald examines the reasons boys lag in reading skills and interest, among which: "One of the systemic issues is that children's literature is overwhelmingly women's work. The great majority of book editors at children's publishing houses are women. Most teachers are women. Most librarians are women. Most books are purchased by women. (Who is reading this story? Is it you, Dad? Or ... is it Mom?) It's perfectly logical that by the time boys reach third or fourth grade, they've concluded reading is something girls do."

Technology Trends

From the LITA Blog (Library and Information Technology Association), Leo Klein’s Top Technology Trends. Here's some excerpts:

• CMS for the Rest of Us
• Websites Like You Would Expect
• It’s Ok to IM
• Web Standards & Dynamic Web Content

Join the Friends of the Pasadena Library

(...reprint from stories from a Pasadena life...)

Recently reported by the Pasadena Citizen, Library group sees need to expand. Excerpts:

The Pasadena Public Library is fighting to increase membership in its support system - Friends of the Pasadena Library - from its current size of two to better serve the community by bringing in new books, sponsoring special programs for all age groups and providing services the community might not otherwise have access to.

***

Friends of the Pasadena Library has meetings at 6 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at the main branch at 1201 Jeff Ginn Memorial Drive. Dues for all members are $10 annually.

helpful info & things I found interesting

(...reprint from stories from a Web Junkie life...)

From Bob Parsons, Your credit card info and identity will probably be stolen -- unless you understand a few simple rules. How to avoid the hassle of your life! "If you don’t know how to detect Phishing, your personal info will be stolen. You need to be aware of what Phishing is, and how to detect and protect yourself from it. It’s important that you read and make it a point to understand the rest of this article. If you don’t, you can be very sure that your credit card information (and quite possibly your identity) will be stolen."

According to Pew Internet, "Some 55% of adult internet users have looked for "how-to," "do-it-yourself" or repair information online and roughly 1 in 20 internet users – about 7 million people -- search for help on a typical day. The prevalence of this activity is yet another example of the many ways online Americans use the internet to gather practical information for their everyday lives." The report is available via PDF online.

Even the Army knows blogging is here to stay. Evidence? They now have policies on blogging, as shown in Arianna Huffington's recent post: Army's Rules for Blogging from the Battlezone.

Business Week reports that on June 27th bloggers might benefit from a Supreme Court ruling for journalists. "That's because Floyd Abrams, a lawyer for the reporters, has said in court and publicly that this reporter-source privilege should apply to bloggers as well."

Found via LifeHacker, a link to 50 smart money moves. "CNN’s Money magazine lists 50 personal finance tips ranging from real estate to retirement to career networking to home gadgets that save you cash."

Found via Blogger Buzz, Fifty (50!) Tools which can help you in Writing. "Roy Peter Clark from Poynter Institute has posted up 50 tools that can help you when you do any kinds of writing. This is a extensive list of writing tools, but by no mean you need to apply all of them when you do any writing."