Tuesday's Tool: Historical Maps on Google Earth

For those of you who have downloaded the most recent version of Google Earth (Release 4, Beta), among several new features, there's a cool one there that allows overlaying historical maps onto the satellite imagery.

Announcement of the feature is here; a list of available maps is here; and a review from SearchEngineWatch with a number of screenshots is here.

SUBJECTS: TUESDAY'S TOOLS

CFLC Chronicles: SSLLI Kick-Off

From Marta Westall, CFLC Director:

What a privilege!

SSLLI - I attended the first session of the State Library and Archives' Sunshine State Library Leadership Institute in Ocala earlier this month and Suzi was at the first session in Ft. Lauderdale last week. If you are not familiar with this project, the basics are: "The program identifies strategies designed to assist the State Library and Archives of Florida in helping libraries to develop and maintain leadership skill levels in their organizations and to identify and assist individuals in developing and maintaining self leadership skill development. The Program's goals include a focus on succession planning, talent management, and leadership career development." The head of the program is Janine Golden of the State Library of Florida.

Both Suzi and I were mentors to program participants last year and have been asked to mentor again this year. We each had the privilege of being asked to speak to the participants for the 2006/2007 year. Librarians statewide compete for admission to the program and then select mentors for their year-long participation. I am honored to have been asked to mentor Lisa Taylor of the Osceola Library System, while Suzi will be mentoring Bianca Rodriguez from Indian River Community College. I just wish there had been a program like this when I was fumbling along in my career!

If you are interested in more detail about the program see the Web site at http://www.neflin.org/leadership/.

SUBJECTS: CFLC CHRONICLES

Friday Fun Thing: Veterans Day

As with a couple of previous Friday Fun Things, this may stretch the definition of "fun." I couldn't, however, let Veterans Day pass without acknowledgement (and a thank you to my father and brother for their service, as well as to my CFLC colleague Dawn and her husband for theirs) and passing along information about a worthy and not-well-enough-known project.

For teachers, those making exhibits, and others, there is an official Veterans Day site from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that gives curricular ideas, poster galleries, presidential proclamations, regional observances and ceremonies, and more.

As of 2000, the Veterans History Project (part of the American Folklife Project from the Library of Congress) is actively collecting "stories of wartime service." More information can be found on their About page and on their "Participate in the Program" page. Thank a Veteran by helping tell and forever preserve their stories!

SUBJECTS: FRIDAY FUN THINGS

CFLC Chronicles: 2006 National Young Readers Day

National Young Readers Day for 2006 is Tuesday, November 14. The day was originally "created by Pizza Hut and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress in 1989 as a way to celebrate literacy in schools." This is the 16th anniversary of the celebration and this Web site (actually part of the BookIt! program's site) provides Starter Kits and ideas for promoting the day.

SUBJECTS: CFLC CHRONICLES

"Globe" Trotting: Indianapolis

Take a look over at the entry "New Main - When?" to see not only the latest CFLC globe trotting pix (it went to Indianapolis), but also the fact that the globe "trotted" to another blog, the VCPLBlog! (That's two globe entries now for them...)

Thanks for the entry and heads-up, Sue!

SUBJECTS: "GLOBE" TROTTING

Friday Fun Thing: Blooper Humor

This Friday Fun Thing is inspired by an e-mail from a colleague who loves editorial gaffes in general and church bulletin humor in particular as much as I do. Noticing that each compilation I've seen forwarded usually has at least one or two unique entries, I went searching to see what I could find and discovered a wealth of slippery-fingered follies. Disclaimer: I did not go beyond the church bulletin pages on any of these sites, so cannot guarantee that the sites themselves are PG or that all the humor therein is appropriate...

For a good time and at least a couple of unique entries per page, see Church Bulletin Bloopers (and its other related blooper sites here), Humorous Church Bulletins, Actual Announcements from Church Bulletins, Bloopers in Church Bulletins, and an article from Christian Century containing bloopers not on any of the above lists, Unconscious pleasures: typographical errors in church bulletins. Finally, if you're still hanging in there, on a not-quite-so-funny note (though referencing some fairly horrifying misquotes) is this editorial from USA Today titled The media, God, and gaffes.

In joy....er, enjoy!

SUBJECTS: FRIDAY FUN THINGS

CFLC Chronicles: PLAN Annual Meeting

Spent an enjoyable if rainy Friday in Niceville, FL, last week participating in PLAN's Annual Meeting. One of the coolest things I learned there is that the College of Information at FSU is considering Second Life as a place to hold "virtual graduations" for their globally dispersed distance education students so that they can actually gather in one place (with their friends and relatives) and "walk" across the stage to receive their diplomas. (Second Life is a 3D virtual online world with some 1.1 million "residents" -- and, by the way, it has a real and vibrant library presence. I've been planning to do a blog entry about it; in light of this posting, I'll bump that up on the list from "eventually" to "soon.")

Way to think outside of the box (or would that literally be inside the box?), FSU!

SUBJECTS: CFLC CHRONICLES