Clippings: 6.8.09

People are finding new uses for old card catalogs.

From the Online Etymology Dictionary, I learned that our "etymology" comes from the Greek etymologia, which combines etymon ("true sense") with logos ("word").

Chicago Public Library unveiled an archive of a historic black newspaper.

Some school districts are ditching textbooks for online curricula of their own design.

NPR detects some patterns in this season's commencement speeches.

And one student is running an underground library of banned books from an empty locker.


(Thanks to Read Street for the first link! Warning: textbook link involves math. Picture from Flickr: CC user bitsandbobbins.)

Web Resource: All About Explorers

All About Explorers was set up to help elementary-aged students learn about the pitfalls of finding information on the Internet. It features biographies of major explorers which contain factual errors, both subtle and blatant. The site also contains lesson plans and worksheets intended to guide students through the site towards greater information literacy.

This lesson plan, for example, compels students to consider the publishing process; books and most printed materials undergo many stages of editing and fact-checking while information on the internet enjoys less rigorous editing, if any at all.

All About Explorers was mentioned in this New York Times piece about the changing role of school librarians.