Boston Globe Columnist Touts Online Materials Available throug the Library

From one of my favorite columnists at the Boston Globe, Hiawatha Bray, comes this column about all the online materials available through the library. Notice the very positive experience he had with MassAnswers while working with a librarian from a SEMLS regional reference center. Good work Jill!

I'm a Wii Fit believer

I enjoyed this article from ZDNet education since I had a similar experience with the Wii Fit we just got in the SEMLS office. Before it arrived, I couldn't see how it would be any different than all the exercise videos that are left untouched on my bookshelf at home. But I think I could become hooked on this thing. I love how it tracks your progress and encourages you to work towards a goal. I was a little angry the first time I used it because it gave me a Wii Fit age that was five years older than my real age. However, now that it's shaving years off of my true age, I'm as happy as a clam.

The Wii Fit will be part of a technology sandbox that will be available to members of the region. But I'm not quite sure if it has a place in libraries. It would be nice to have a group exercise program at the library, but only one person can use the Wii Fit at a time. And, where it does display your weight and BMI in large letters on the screen, I can't imagine most people would want to use it in a group experience.

A New Kind of Ebook?

This eBook, expected to be released in the Fall 2008, looks interesting. The Readius eBook Reader will fit into your pocket and will have a screen that you can pull out like a shade.

Has the Market Maxed Out for the Kindle

An interesting article from Wired about the potential growth (or lack thereof) for the Kindle market. http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2008/08/portfolio_0805.

New WebJunction

For those of your who are fans of WebJunction, you may want to take a look at its new platform. They fully migrated to the new Web site over the weekend. According to the WebJuntion announcement, the new site features:

• New course catalog offers hundreds of new courses from WebJunction, LE@D, and SkillSoft.
• My WebJunction tab on the main page creates a more personalized experience. Sign in to see My WebJunction and start to collect all your bookmarks, contributions, and activities in one place.
• More partners means more choices for subscribing to customized content from library service organizations.
• Deeper member profile with personalized fields allows you to choose how to represent yourself to other WebJunction members. Plus, you control how much of your WebJunction profile to share.
• Community ownership means you contribute too. The new platform makes it easy for anyone across the community to add content in all kinds of formats.
• Friendly Terms of Use now include Creative Commons licensing and custom privacy options. When you sign in you'll be accepting our new Terms (http://webjunction.org/terms). Please take some time to review them before you get started.