Jobs, grants, prestige and career advancement are all partially based on an admittedly flawed concept: the journal Impact Factor. Impact factors have been becoming increasingly meaningless since 1991, writes George Lozano, who finds that the variance of papers' citation rates around their journals' IF has been rising steadily.
The $9.99 ZotPad app lets you access your Zotero library on an iPad.
I’m delighted that the newest version of ZotPad has solved these two limitations: you can now access your Zotero attachments if you use WebDAV (and also if you store your Zotero library on DropBox), and regardless of which method you use to sync your Zotero files, you can upload annotated PDFs back up to Zotero.
You can highlight, underline, add notes and comments to the the PDF, using whatever your preferred app is on the iPad. Then, when you’re ready, use that app’s Share… or Open In… feature to kick the document back to ZotPad. ZotPad will figure out which item that PDF belongs to, and swap out the old version for the newly annotated version.
In other words, if you download a PDF directly from, say, JSTOR, while in iOS’s Safari, you cannot send that PDF into ZotPad. You still need a PC to do that.
My second caveat is that you will probably want to adjust ZotPad’s settings so that it doesn’t try to download every attachment in your library all at once.
Go to the main Settings app and scroll down to find ZotPad listed among the apps. Under the section labeled “Preemptive Cache,” change the Attachment files option to “Active items.” This ensures that ZotPad will only download an attachment when you specifically request it.
essentially it’s a place for folks to make things, perhaps writing and illustrating a zine, using the open source Arduino computing platform to program a robot, screenprinting, or creating model houses with a 3D printer.
some public libraries are experimenting with makerspaces, including Fayetteville Free Library in New York, Westport Public Library in Connecticut, and Cleveland Public Library in Ohio.
What could a makerspace look like in an academic library? What do we help our patrons make? We have computer labs, some more specialized and high-end than others, and we could add equipment like 3D printers. Of course, not every library will have the funding and staff to create tech-centered makerspaces. And faculty and departments may already have that equipment for students to use, especially those in engineering, computer science, and other technical majors.
For those colleges or universities that can’t create a physical makerspace, what are some other ways we can encourage the maker ethos in our libraries?
We could produce a student journal or create a zine, and I have a colleague who asks students to create their own citation style. But I’m struggling with the idea of the one-shot instruction session as makerspace. What can students “make” in a one-shot?
We need to find ways to support creating, not just finding. The Student as Producer project at the University of Lincoln in the UK is an interesting model to consider.
But I’m interested in adapting the *spirit* of makerspaces for an academic setting, by giving students a space the facilitates content creation and experimentation and play. I’m wondering if Digital Media Labs are in some ways equivalent to makerspaces in this way?
Students generally have one thing on their mind–pass their classes and they visit the library to do that. Even if they never speak to a librarian, they may find the ambiance of a library conductive to the end goal of passing a class. They often do not have the time or current interest to pursue creative endeavors, at least not in the library. They instead go work out at the student athletic center or participate in student organizations that provide a more creative outlet. In other words, it’s a different community and a different mission than the public library.
I guess more than anything I’m interested in the spirit of makerspaces, as Elizabeth notes, as a place where creativity and excitement are encouraged. Maybe these feelings aren’t as closely-associated with a place intended for (school)work as they are with one intended for hobbies/leisure. But I think it *is* exciting to research a topic and make something out of the information you find.
At U.Iowa we’ve been developing a 75-90 minute lesson plan with an overview of zine history, hands on time with zines, and then time to make a collaborative zine. I’d be happy to chat about it, send an e-mail! Colleen Theisen, Special Collections & University Archives – University of Iowa
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