BLOG REFLECTION #1 TOPIC

Yes, it's my first time blogging and I do not have any blog to read on a basic.  My envionment is helping the school and I never read favorite blog post and url.  Why I want to blog because, so I can have short time at work.  It is surprising when we have arts.  It is dissapointing when some kids do not listen when I have to speak about something a lot of times.

Blog Reflection#4

I would definitely choose electronic over print due to the convenient of able to access data from everywhere.  With gasoline price sky high and an extremely congested traffic flow, electronic, to me, seems to be somewhat more appealing.  With $5000 budget, I would definitely buy electronic material.  Not only that, I would find a way to upgrade computer system, making it works faster.  One thing that I notice is that some government or library web pages are loading very slow; as a result, I would designate some budget to improve the computer system, making it load faster.  Not only that, I will also make sure that library web page would look the same in every computer operating system; the reason for me to mention about different computer operating systems is because some time at home, the library web page looks different on my computer, which, in turn, worries me a bit because I would have to look around on the webpage to find where I need to go. 

BLOG REFLECTION #5

I have been searching on the web to see if there is any way to actually validate to see whether or not the content on the site is correct or whether or not the author of an article is who he/she claims to be.  But then I could not find any site that can do the job.  So, I did some thinking and realized that the web is so broad and wide; who would have the power to check and to validate web site content or to validate a so called author.  Also, who would have time to post wrong information on internet?  Long story short, there are not web sites that can validate sit content or author, but following is a site which list some common look outs or knowledge that a person can do in order to get correct information on internet. http://library.usm.maine.edu/research/researchguides/webeval.php?ID=0

 BLOG REFLECTION #6

We have reference for many different sites; now, I am confused and not sure the specialty of each referent material.  The only site that I know for sure I would use if I am looking for United State census data is Statistical Abstract of the United State.  However, for the rest of the sites, such as World Atlas, etc, I do not understand what its specialty is.  Anyway, I will go back to reading material this weekend, list out all of reference materials and go into each reference again to figure out its specialty.

I have to say that this class has introduced me to very interesting and useful websites such as Statistical Abstract of United State, or the government source link where I find an extremely valuable article about nutrient fact and serving size.

BLOG REFLECTION#7

For a patron who would like to use electronic/internet resources to do research for his/her topic, I would let the patron know that Wikipedia may not be a good source for research since it’s data is not reliable and not confirmed by other professional agencies. On the other hand, ProQuest or other electronic journal/news paper index such as EBSCO are good sources for research since these data are often been reviewed and confirmed by other professionals in the fields; the down side to these databases is that one will need to have or to purchase membership in order to be able to access the article/document. Furthermore, search engines sometime will lead to a good source; however, since there are so many websites and many junk leads, one may have to spend quite some time in order to get to the article that he/she truly needs.  Not only that, patron may have to do his/her own investigation to make sure that the writer is authenticated, credited and not biased due to their own sponsorship influences.  Encyclopedia, in general, is a reliable source since it is a professional data with reviewing system.  Subscription research databases which are offered through library access are definitely reliable sources since these data are reviewed by peers in the field. And, a gain the downside is the temporary and conditioned access privilege. Last but not least, government sponsored data and website is definitely reliable and free access; it often comprised of consensus data.

Blog Reflection#8

I did not involve in any projects that had anything to do with library instruction, either writing, creating, or editing until this class. Before taking this class, I thought that information from articles or any links from search engines such as Yahoo.com or Google.com are reliable. I remembered that I was a bit suspicious that information from search engines could be untrue or bias but the problem seemed to be hopeless and uncorrectable because I did not know that there were places where readers could get information which had been validated and under supports from prestigious sponsors. Now, through this library class, I realized that there are honorable websites and databases where readers can get true and correct information or articles.

            In term of teaching skill to patrons, I believe that it is extremely important for librarian to emphasize to patrons that not all source links are the same, that junk sources do exist and that it is important for patrons to be able to distinguish between junk sources and reliable sources. As a result, I believe that library instruction should not cover just solely on how to use library system but instead library instruction should also teach patrons on where and how to look for reliable sources. Furthermore, library instruction should not be limited to face to face contact only but instead library instruction should be in article form or video form so that online patrons can learn these skills through internet also.

                In fact, for a public library, if patrons are adults, librarians can teach patrons with skills of how to distinguish reliable source from unreliable ones through video clips, frequently ask question-answer format, discussion forum format, and articles.