Technical Services Quarterly

ISSN: 0731-7131 (Print) 1555-3337 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wtsq20

Librarianship studies & information technology blog Elise Y. Wong To cite this article: Elise Y. Wong (2016) Librarianship studies & information technology blog, Technical Services Quarterly, 33:2, 202-203, DOI: 10.1080/07317131.2016.1135008 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07317131.2016.1135008

Published online: 21 Mar 2016.

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Date: 22 March 2016, At: 07:13

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TECH SERVICES ON THE WEB

FromThePage2 offers a way for those back-logged, hand-written collections to become usable and available on the Internet. This product can help institutions to increase the exposure to their collections, especially when hiring additional staff is not an option. While the development and outreach for such a beta tool needs improvement, it is a free tool to consider as an alternative to purchased software. Rating: 4 out of 5

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Susan Leach-Murray Franklin College Hamilton Library, Franklin, IN [email protected] q 2016 Susan Leach-Murray http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07317131.2016.1135007

Librarianship studies & information technology blog http://librarianshipstudies.blogspot.com/ Librarianship Studies & Information Technology (LS&IT) is an ambitious blog that covers “studies, research, techniques, technology, best practices, and the latest news on librarianship, library and information science, and information technology.” The blog was created in 2014 by Salman Haider, a cataloguing and metadata librarian, blogger, and online social media expert, who has a computer science, mathematics, and statistics background. As a proficient cataloger in Resource Description & Access (RDA), Salman Haider is also the creator of RDA blog (reviewed in Technical Services Quarterly, volume 31, issue number 3, 2014), RDA Bibliography, and RDA Special Topics & Materials blog. The layout of the LS&IT homepage is similar to its sister blogs. The homepage is intuitive and easy to navigate. There is a search box at the top and bottom of the page. The posts are listed chronologically and can be browsed by month in the blog archive. They are also tagged by categories. Users can sample the quality of the posts by browsing a list of “Popular Posts” on the homepage. The frequency of the posts has been steady since 2014. The traffic is not too heavy, and the posts are visually friendly to browse at leisure. There are numerous social media channels that users can use to follow news and updates about the blog. Users can subscribe to posts via RSS feed or email, Facebook, Twitter, Googleþ, Flipboard, or Pinterest. The creator is also doing a great job posting on library listservs to promote new posts. The LS&IT blog covers many subject areas in the library profession. Some of the more popular categories are Cataloging & Metadata, Glossary of Library

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TECH SERVICES ON THE WEB

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Information Science, Classification & Shelflisting, LS&IT News, Library & Information & Technology, Subject Headings, and Library & Knowledge Management. Many of the Cataloging & Metadata postings are also cross-listed in the RDA blog. My two favorite categories are Cataloging & Metadata and Glossary of Library Information Science. The postings are well-written and thoughtful, and the claims are backed with authoritative sources. The LS&IT blog is young and ambitious. It has the potential to become a valuable resource for librarians and students studying for Library and Information Science programs either for a degree or certificate. The blog can also be informative for library paraprofessional staff. The Librarian’s Reference Directory will be a handy list of lists once it is fully updated. There is room for growth in many areas of Librarianship Studies listed on the blog. I hope that the creator will continue to develop more content on non-cataloging topics, e.g., Acquisitions, E-Resources, Reference, Digital Marketing, Circulation, and Research Methodology. I am also eager to see new topics being introduced, such as Instruction, Administration, Facilities, Collection Development, Archives, Publishing, Career Development, Intellectual Property, and Public and School Library Programs. The LS&IT blog is no doubt a huge undertaking due to its wide scope. One strategy to sustain the blog would be for the creator to recruit other information experts and turn the blog into a collaborative effort. I am confident that an LS&IT blog with well-balanced coverage to attract users of a variety of interests and expertise will prosper in no time. Rating: 4 out of 5 Elise Y. Wong St. Albert Hall Library, Saint Mary’s College of California, Moraga, CA [email protected] q 2016 Elise Y. Wong http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07317131.2016.1135008

MentorMob https://www.mentormob.com/ MentorMob makes several self-paced learning modules available on the web for free. Mentors are described as “enthusiasts, teachers and experts in any skill or hobby who find the best instructional articles and videos, and organize them into MentorMob Guides.” All the modules may be accessed directly at the MentorMob’s website or by downloading an app (for those with Apple devices). The webpage and app have a straightforward, clean design, which