NoveList is a Novel Idea

When I'm working at any of the public desks at my library, my go-to database for helping patrons find their next book is NoveList. I cannot stress how awesome this resource is (at least for discovering adult, YA and children's fiction)! Although it has a lot of the same basic information available as Amazon.com, I find it much more reliable and useful. NoveList's reading suggestions are almost always spot on and they pack in a lot of helpful information in a pleasing-to-the-eye and easy to navigate interface.

To check it out, click here! (If you aren't a North Kingstown Free Library card holder, but you are a RI resident, go to www.askri.org and click on the EBSCO link.) Let me know what you think!

Social Media: Enabling Users to Only Trust Eachother

I found the above YouTube video on social media to be interesting, overwhelming and inundated with facts that I've lately suspected to be true but have yet to find confirmation of their truth (that would be quite a research job!). Yet with the internet becoming such a fantastic facilitator of free information, it's hard to know where to turn to discover valid sources. According to the below video, people generally trust user recommendations much more than they do advertisements--but what does this mean for social media? Will there someday be a review page for social media pages? And then a review page for the review pages? Will it never end?! Perhaps I've gotten carried away, but so much readily available information simply makes me think about what the end result will be (or just what the social media scene will look like five, ten or fifteen years from now... can we even begin to imagine it?).

Regardless, my point is this: people trusting user recommendations much more than they do advertising is not a new thing! It's simply that the internet makes it easier for users to connect and share their opinions. Social media is a giant facilitator and the world wide web is its stage. Think of the possibilities!

Lastly, on an unrelated note (but still related to the video), I found the tidbit interesting about the U.S. Department of Education study revealing that students taking online courses significantly outperformed those receiving face to face instruction. Is anyone else as surprised as I am about this? What are your thoughts?

Hello Hello

So far I've had a lot of fun creating my blog... I look forward to reading everyone else's blogs throughout the semester!

Maggie