[Web4lib] Announcement: Zotero, Loose Change, and Whyville, Oh My!

[Tom Peters]

Greetings! 

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week there will be a wide variety of free online programs offered by OPAL member libraries.  Topics include Zotero (a cool citation management tool), a conversation with award-winning poet Steven Hind, and Whyville (a popular virtual world for tweens).  These programs are open to all.  There is no need to register.

Details about these programs are listed below.  To attend online, please visit:
http://www.opal-online.org/progschrono.htm

Wednesday, January 23, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 1:00 Central, noon Mountain, 11:00 a.m. Pacific, and 7:00 p.m. GMT/UTC/Zulu:

The Mark of Zotero: Two-Clicks to Citation Management 

Zotero, designed by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, is a free citation manager that works as part of the Firefox web browser. It allows researchers to keep track of bibliographies, notes, even copies of articles and pictures-- all within the browser window. It integrates with several word processors to make creating a reference or a bibliography a two-click process. Chris Strauber, Reference and Web Services Librarian at Wofford College, will demonstrate the program and discuss it as a possible replacement for products like Procite and Refworks. 

Hosts: South Carolina State Library and PASCAL (Partnership Among South Carolina Academic Libraries) 

Link to the OPAL Online Auditorium 
Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, 7:30 Central, 6:30 Mountain, 5:30 Pacific, and 1:30 a.m. Friday GMT/UTC/Zulu:

Meet the Author: Steven Hind 

Meet and chat with Kansas Notable Book award-winner Steven Hind, author of The Loose Change of Wonder. The Kansas Center for the Book identifies up to 20 notable books annually, books by Kansans or about Kansas. Titles have been published in the previous year. A list with brief descriptions of all the 2007 Kansas Notable Books can be found here. 

Upcoming author discussions in this series include: 

Jan. 31 - George Brandsberg, author of Afoot: A Tale of the Great Dakota Turkey Drive 

March 24 - Lois Ruby, author of Shanghai Shadows 

Host: Johnson County Library 

Location: OPAL Online Auditorium 
Friday, January 25, 2008 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, 10:00 Central, 9:00 Mountain, 8:00 Pacific, and 5:00 p.m. GMT/UTC/Zulu:

Virtuals Worlds for Kids, Tweens, and Teens: Whyville 

According to a recent New York Times article, 2008 will be the year of virtual worlds for kids, with rapid population growth and many ventures. Libraries and other educational and cultural organizations are exploring these virtual worlds for kids, too. This hour long seminar will feature speakers Tom Peters of TAP Information Services providing an overview of the growth of virtual worlds for kids, Cliff Zintgraff of Whyville providing an introduction and tour of Whyville, and Kelly Czarnecki of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County talking about why it is important for librarians and educators to be in virtual worlds such as Whyville. 

NOTE: This program will be repeated later on this date. See below. 

Host: Alliance Library System 

Location: OPAL Online Auditorium 
Friday, January 25, 2008 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 2:00 Central, 1:00 Mountain, noon Pacific, and 8:00 p.m. GMT/UTC/Zulu:

Virtuals Worlds for Kids, Tweens, and Teens: Whyville 

According to a recent New York Times article, 2008 will be the year of virtual worlds for kids, with rapid population growth and many ventures. Libraries and other educational and cultural organizations are exploring these virtual worlds for kids, too. This hour long seminar will feature speakers Tom Peters of TAP Information Services providing an overview of the growth of virtual worlds for kids, Cliff Zintgraff of Whyville providing an introduction and tour of Whyville, and Kelly Czarnecki of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County talking about why it is important for librarians and educators to be in virtual worlds such as Whyville. 

Host: Alliance Library System 

Location: OPAL Online Auditorium 

 
Tom Peters, OPAL Coordinator
 
TAP Information Services
1000 SW 23rd Street
Blue Springs, MO 64015
phone: 816-228-6406
email: tpeters at tapinformation.com 
web: www.tapinformation.com
Skype: tapeters4466 
 
TAP Info helps organizations innovate.