4. Study week

For all the students at the college where I work, it's not long until exams start! Good luck! While the students are studying hard I will be making sure we have all the required readings in the library for the new semester, and continuing my professional development with lots of reading and participating in online courses (oh and reading the 60+ #blogjune posts!) Here's a few articles that caught my eye this week that I'll probably have another look at later -

Ebook statistics infographic (on Edutech, Dec, 2012) - price, access and portability quoted as top reasons why students bought electronic textbooks. They also love the search and highlight functions! But they seem unsure about whether etextbooks are saving them time.

Why programming is the core skill of the 21st century - I've been thinking for a while now that it would beneficial to learn how to code, and lots of great reasons in this article as to why I should stop procrastinating and start learning! I've signed up at Codeacademy...

A 117 page presentation on internet trends: Some fascinating mobile stats from page 30 on. 

KPCB Internet Trends 2013 from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Mobile design tips (from Mashable) - some things to keep in mind when designing sites for the mobile interface. Mostly applies to apps rather than webpages designed for the mobile however. I've realised I'm quite interested in the design of things, preferring a more minimalistic style. Inherited from my graphic designer mum and engineer dad perhaps?

How should academic libraries communicate their own value? (a Guardian article from Aug 2012) - so many misunderstandings of what librarians do, the role academic libraries play in the university, and their potential if fully utilised by staff and students! Ideas to turn it around.

Conference recordings from 'Beyond the PDF' - academic publishing - link here as a reminder to watch later!

Anythink library design - I'm going to just keep these design ideas in mind for the future... it's all about moving away from the idea of libraries as stern and silent places with shhh! librarians and fines, and more about hospitality, intuitive classification of materials, and librarians as guides rather than keepers of knowledge.