I just learned about a digital media service that works through your library: Digital Library Reserve, by Overdrive: http://www.dlrinc.com/ . Check their library partners page to see if your local library offers this service: http://www.dlrinc.com/Lib-Partners.asp .

See any sliderules lately? This story in Boingboing caught my eye: the missing link of slide rules to calculators http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/20/sliderulecalculator_.html . A line from the source story made me wonder if there is a message in it for libraries: "The sobering lesson is that it is not enough to see the future; one must also have the resources to respond. It is one thing to wish to fly; it is quite another to actually sprout wings and take to the air. The slide rule companies knew what they had to do; they simply couldn’t get from here to there."

The Digital Divide is the topic of the March 2006 issue of Technology & Learning:
http://www.techlearning.com/content/about/tl_current.html .

New open access journal: Evidence Based Library and Information Practice http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP . If you register on the site, there are additional interactive features available.

Announcing a free children's health movie, translated in English, Spanish, and Sudanese-Nuer.

"Following the clues: a visit to the doctor and the library"

Funded by the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the 12 minute film follows Alana Williams as she and her grandmother make a doctor's appointment, see the doctor, and find health information at the library.

Narrated in English, Spanish, and Sudanese-Nuer, the movie is designed for young children and adults unfamilar with the US healthcare system. The film is now available at no cost to librarians, community health providers, immigrant support agencies, and elementary school professionals in DVD and VHS format.

Principal actors in the film: Emma H. Bradley, Steve Bridges, Rina Evelyn, Marty Magee, Alana Myles, Veronica E. Rivera, Cindy Schmidt

The movie was produced and written by McGoogan Library of Medicine Diversity Project Committee, Alison Bobal, Heather L. Brown, Teresa Hartman, Marty Magee, Cindy Schmidt ; directed by Paul Kawacz, Mike Moehring ; edited by Paul Kawacz, Jeff Stevens ; graphics Katheryn Warzak, Bill Wassom ; narrated by Margaret Bumann, Nicolas J. Mirman, Bern Yuot; Spanish translation by Sergio Diaz, Nicolas J. Mirman ; Nuer translation by Cyracom International, Inc.
For information on ordering copies of the film, and to view the movie on the Internet, go to http://www.unmc.edu/library/clues .

If you or your patrons are keeping up with the weather, either locally, before your next trip, or for keeping track of what is happening where loved ones live, here is a link to WXNation, a resource that links to live radar images from Accuweather, Intellicast, and other weather radar sources: http://www.wxnation.com .

Do you want real life proof that knowing the evidence can change
practice? Visit Medical Myths, a website that tracks common practices,
and provides evidence to support change.
http://www.montana.edu/wwwebm/myths.htm
This page provides numerous examples that can be incorporated into classes. (Thanks to Lynne Fox of UCHSC Denison Memorial Library for this tip.-th)

A good copyright newsletter: Copyright, New Media Law & E-commerce News, written and distributed by Lesley Ellen Harris, a lawyer and copyright consultant. You can sign up for the newsletter at the author's site: http://copyrightlaws.com/index2.html. The newsletter is also archived here: http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/201/300/copyright/ . Ms. Harris also produces a Copyright & New Media Law Newsletter for fee subscription, intended for libraries, archives, and museums. Subscription information and editorials from back issues can be found on the author's link listed above.