Digital Tools Affect Reading Comprehension

Use of digital tools can affect our understanding of what we read. Researchers Geoff Kaufman and Mary Flanagan found that those who read an article on a computer answered concrete questions better while those who read it from a printout were better able to answer abstract questions. More of those who studied a printed spreadsheet could analyze the statistics to make a decision than those who used the laptop. By specifically adding a task to a written document it was also possible to encourage more abstract or critical thinking in readers. Kaufman said "If I catch myself reading a journal article in a PDF, and I start to get stuck on the details of the methodology, I’ll just go ahead and print it out.” The authors presented at the recent ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Websites Referenced

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/05/09/researcher-say-computer-screens-change-how-you-think-about-what-you-read/

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2858036.2858550

AmazonSmile - a New Way to Support Your Favorite Charity

Are you an Amazon shopper? Consider using AmazonSmile as your shopping stop!

The company will donate 0.5% of your purchase price to a charity of your choice from a list of almost a million IRS-registered 503(c)(3) charities -- no cap, and most items are included except digital. The hospital is on the list!

Learn more about AmazonSmile and choose your charity!

Websites referenced
http://smile.amazon.com
https://org.amazon.com/
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/charity/change.html

Early Childhood Reading - Literacy and New AAP Policy

Early childhood reading is the focus of a policy released this week by the Council on Early Childhood, American Academy of Pediatrics, described in an article by Amy Joyce in the Washington Post.
The guidelines say reading aloud regularly helps develop the brain and "strengthens parent-child relationships at a critical time in child development, which, in turn, builds language, literacy, and social-emotional skills that last a lifetime." Part of the program includes recommendations on funding for children's books in insurance programs. The AAP has long proposed that "programs that invest in children at the earliest ages have the highest rates of return."
Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and the Grand Lodge of Texas have partnered for years to help Masons spread the word about the importance of early reading through their Take Time to Read program. When children leave the hospital after a visit they usually go home with a free book discovered in the Center for Dyslexia, Family Resource Center or a waiting room.

Websites referenced
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2014/06/19/peds.2014-1384
http://www.aap.org
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2014/06/24/new-guidelines-from-pediatricians-read-to-your-children/
http://www.tsrhc.org/
http://www.tsrhc.org/masons
http://www.tsrhc.org/dyslexia-take-time-to-read
http://www.tsrhc.org/dyslexia
http://www.tsrhc.org/family-resource-center

Bone Feed -- an App for Your iPhone

Here's an iMedicalApps review of a free app, Bone Feed, designed for an orthopedist using an iPhone to help manage journal reading. It gets feeds of the tables of contents from 50 titles listed at MDLinx.

Websites referenced:
http://www.imedicalapps.com/2011/07/bone-feed-busy-orthopedist-quickly-browse-abstracts-improved/

http://www.imedicalapps.com

http://www.mdlinx.com/orthopedics/journals.cfm

Leisure Reading Exchange Area

Do you listen to books on tape as you drive? Are you a reader?

A leisure reading exchange area is now available in the Medical Library. It includes print books and audio CDs and tapes. Check under the display journal section near the entrance. Take one to read, bring yours to share!

Reading Resources for Kids -- Websites

Here are several excellent sites if you are interested in children's literature, which we encourage through the "Take Time to Read" program:

· The Center for the Book at the Library of Congress helps oversee the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature – www.childrensbookambassador.com
· …in collaboration with the Children’s Book Council – www.cbcbooks.org
· National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance – www.thencbla.org
· The center also oversees a new website that provides reading resources especially for kids and teens, as well as adults, educators, and parents –
www.read.gov

Source: American Libraries 12-09, p. 22 “Space for Children and Teens Created at Library of Congress.” Thanks to Leora Kemp, UNT Dallas Library Director