#22 E-Books

The top three issues/questions that I have after exploring the e-book sites listed under the e-book resources are the following:

It was unclear by many of the sites how much it cost to download a book
It was unclear by many of the sites how long you have to keep the book (since you are having to pay is it like buying a book?).
It was unclear what type of software the user needed in order to be able to

I thought Maryland’s digital e-library was great. It provided all the information about how long you get to have the books, the software needed to download the books, and links to download the software needed. It was easy to use and you did not have to go on a digging hunt to find the information.

For my Digital Book Test Drive I chose to download the book “ How the Supreme Court is Destroying America” By Mark R. Levin. I downloaded the book from Maryland’s digital e-library.

I liked the “my book bag” and “my bookshelf” idea. I was amazed at how many of the books were checked out. I did not realize how many people used the digital e-library. I enjoyed the process of exploring and downloading the book. It gave be a better understanding of the process.

A Whole New Mind

Dan Pink discusses in his book "A Whole New Mind", the new age that is developing in the United States and other countries called a "conceptual age". The conceptual age is the next step in the world's evolution. The new age will consist of the economy and the way of life changing from a "left-brain thinking" to a "right-brain thinking" age. It will change from not just being analytical but to being creative and expressive.
I am a right brain thinker. I have had many frustrations in my educational experience with test etc. I am excited and glad that right brain thinkers are now becoming valued and not just thought of as someone who can make something pretty to look at. However, I feel that in order for the world to achieve "utopia" we need both types of brains/thinkers working and valuing each other to create and evolve at a level we all can enjoy and succeed in.

My only question for Dan Pink would be "What did you score on the SAT?"

#8 RSS feeds

I really enjoyed the rss exercise. I had heard about rss but never played around with it. I am afraid I am going to become addicted to it.

QUOTE ABOUT LEARNING

"One of the greatest joys known to man is to take a flight into ignorance in search of knowledge"

Robert Lynd

"The best education has come from the public library...My tuition fee is a bus fare and once in awhile, five cents a day for an overdue book. You don't need to know very much to start with, if you know the way to the public library."

Lesley Conger

The quote by Robert Lynd exemplifies my philosophy of learning. I have had many patrons come up to me and tell me they have a stupid question to ask. I tell them there is never a stupid question. If we all thought our questions were stupid or never asked questions about things we don't know about there would never be any great discoveries or advances in society. The quote says we should take chances and opportunities to learn something new that we have no current knowledge of just like jumping on board with LATI to learn more and improve our skills to help our patrons search for knowledge.