Amazon Opens Book Stores

Amazon has entered the book store market, opening stores in 7 states:  California, Illinois, Massachusettes, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington.

The bookstores are designed to offer the same curated experience as the website, with shelf content determined by online sales and interest.  Popular books are shelved with several other books that an interested reader might purchase.

Someone I know visited the bookstore in Columbus Circle, NYC, and said he purchased more books than expected and planned to buy 4 more online. 

If you are wondering, MD will be getting a store in Bethesda so you can check it out yourself.



For a list of the locations:  https://www.amazon.com/b?node=13270229011

For an interesting article on the stores, check out these articles:

USA Today:  https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/05/24/amazon-brings-its-physical-bookstore-new-york/102071054/

NY Magazine:  http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/06/why-is-amazon-building-bookstores.html

ALA Annual Deadline 2018

The deadline to submit your paperwork for the ALA Annual Conference will Be February 9, 2018.

The conference will be in New Orleans, LA from June 21-26, 2918.

Certification log in page link fixed

I fixed the link for the Certification log in page in the "Interesting Links" box.  It now takes you to the mdcert.org page.  Thanks Stefanie for letting me know it was broken.

PLA and Computers in Libraries Conference Deadlines

If you want to request funding to attend these conferences, please make a note of the deadlines below.  Completed paperwork must be received by SD&T by these dates to receive funding.

PLA application deadline is Friday, December 1

Computers in Libraries application deadline is Friday, February 2

These dates are also on the SD&T calendar.

Goals and Intentions Statements - Guidelines and Suggestions

If you are going to request funding for a conference or outside learning event, you need to submit the "Request for Authorization for Leave and-or Expenses to Attend" form (354).  Along with this form, you must submit a "Goals and Intentions Statement," that explains why you want to attend this event.

Your statement may be brief, but should include the following:

1.)    What is the purpose/focus of the conference or training?  Who is the intended audience?  Put this in your own words and connect it to the library, don’t just copy and paste from the website (1-2 sentences are usually fine).  

2.)    Why do you wish to attend the event?   How is it relevant to your job and/or the library?  How will the library benefit from your attendance?  What skills/ideas do you expect to gain from attendance that will improve your job performance and/or customer service? (this section should be the longest and contain the most detail).  Avoid statements that would be true of any attendee at any conference (e.g. “at this conference I’ll represent the Pratt library”) and focus on why YOU should attend this particular event.

You might include:

• Experiences/information gained from prior years' attendance that you have used in your job.  If this is your first time attending you might include information you received from others who attended or what you expect to bring back from the event.
• Specific information/training offered at the event that you cannot receive elsewhere.
• Lists of specific sessions at the event which are relevant to your job, or which prompted your request to attend.
• If committee service is part of your request, you need clearly describe the committee and its goals, and explain how service on this committee benefits the library, the staff, or our customers. 
• If you are a member of the sponsoring organization, or have a membership that entitles you to a discount in registration or other fees, include this information and your membership number in your statement. 

Remember that the goal of this statement is to give the reasons why you wish to attend the conference and how the library staff or customers will benefit from your attendance.   Be specific.  

If you have any questions about your statement,

please contact Staff Development and Training before you submit your paperwork.

Before, During, After: Learning doesn't begin and end in the classroom.

Many people view learning as a one time event.  Go to class, learn something, leave.  However, we know that this approach doesn't lead to a high rate of retention.  You have to prepare for learning before you enter class, ask the right questions during class, and then review the information after class to get the most out of each learning experience.

Before

Think about what it is you want to "get" from the class.  Why did you register for this class - what appealed to you?

Look at the learning objectives and/or course description.  What do you expect to learn in this class?  Is there an aspect of the topic you don't see in the description/learning objectives that you expected to see?  Make a note of it so you can bring it up in class.

What do you expect/want/need to be able to do once you have completed the class?  If you don't know what the end result should look like then how can you determine if the class was a success?

What do you already know about this topic?  What questions do you have or what else do you want to know about this topic?

During

What material is being covered in this class?  What questions do you have?  Write them down as they occur to you so that you can ask the instructor.  Does anything seem to be missing?

Are you able to understand the material being presented?  If not, why not?  Do you need the instructor to repeat something or go over the material in a different way?  Don't be afraid to ask relevant questions. Do you need more information, details, or examples?

Take notes in class.  We forget most of what is covered almost immediately, so a written record of the important ideas can help you remember them.  Notes can also be helpful when sharing the information with your supervisor or colleagues.

After

Time to evaluate.  Were all of your questions answered?  Did you "get" what you wanted from the class or do you need to explore further?  Did the trainer share resources that will help you to go further with the topic?

What worked well for you?  What problems did you encounter with the information or the instructor?
If asked, could you provide your supervisor or co-workers with a summary of the information presented in class?  If you can't, it's a good thing you took those notes in class.  Review them to see what points you might want to revisit.

Where do you want to go from here?  What other elements of this topic are of interest to you?

Study like a Ravenclaw or work to the sounds of a storm at sea

Ambient-mixer.com

Ambient-Mixer.com has a section dedicated to the background sounds of fictional worlds, so you can study to the sounds of the Gryffindor common room, read in Belle’s library, or browse the Internet while you’re being chased by a hoard of Dothraki.