Volume 1, Issue 2, May 2009

What’s News in the VPLRC?

• Thank you to all who participated in the National Library Week festivities and congratulations to the winners of our gift bag and $5.00 print card! Click on the link to enjoy photos taken at the Stress-Relieving @ the Party: http://s702.photobucket.com/albums/ww23/vplrc/?action=view&current=c087a7fc.pbw.
  
• Children’s Network of Southwest Florida’s Heart Gallery exhibit has been extended in VPLRC to May 23rd.
  
• May is Get Caught Reading Month; Florida Women’s Health Month; and Asian Pacific American Month. Visit your Learning Resources Center learn more about these themes.

Did You Know?

On April 23, 2009, The American Library of Congress and UNESCO launched the World Digital Library (WDL) to narrow the digital divide between countries. US Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington, established the basic idea to create an Internet-based, easily-accessible collection of the world's cultural riches that would tell the stories and highlight the achievements of all countries and cultures, thereby promoting cross-cultural awareness and understanding in 2005. The World Digital Library offers free of charge primary materials from other countries and cultures around the world. These materials are available in multilingual formats with the foremost objectives to:

• “Promote international and intercultural understanding;



• Expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet;



• Provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences;
  


• Build capacity in partner institutions to narrow the digital divide within and between countries.” (WDL, 2009)

Focus On…

The website of the month is the WebTools4u2use, http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/, created by Donna Baumbach, Professor of Education, University of Central Florida. “The purpose of this website is to provide a place for K-12 school library media specialists to learn a little more about web tools that can be used to improve and enhance school library media programs and services, to see examples of how they can be used, and to share success stories and creative ideas about how to use and integrate them. Hundreds of free and inexpensive web tools are available for school library media specialists to use that can make us more productive, valued, and, perhaps, more competitive.” But this website is not just for librarians, it’s for anyone who enjoys using Web 2.0 tools to enhance their social networking experience. It’s also a great educational tool to integrate into instruction.

VPLRC Quotable Quotes…

“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.” ~Samuel Johnson (English Author, 1709-1784)