It's Morphing Time!: Power Rangers are Go Going back to the Movies

A surprising contender at the box office, Power Rangers (2017), left fans shocked at how well the remake of a childhood classic lived up to to the fun and energizing TV series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (1993).  The movie was set in a small American town called Angle Grove, California. The Power Rangers had a nice balance of nostalgia and freshness to the story. With a somewhat Breakfast Club vibe we see these outcasts come together to defeat the alien power of Rita Repulsa. The performance of Elizabeth Banks, as Rita Repusla, held up to the campy quality that the TV series Rita was most remembered for. Can be fun for all, from fans of the originals to the first time viewers. I bet we will see more from this franchise in the future and I can't wait. 

Next Step Virtual Reality Libraries?...

In the past few years interactive gaming, multi-user virtual environment or virtual reality, have been creating the biggest buzz around the gaming community. Most people have seen the funny videos of first time VR players experiencing a roller coaster ride. My own personal experience with virtual reality gaming was after purchasing Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, you get a free VR headset with each purchase of the cell. Because it was free I gave it a go and I was honestly shocked at how well it could trick a mind into believing it. 

From the already installed games I played around with it a bit and my first game was floating through space and learning about constellations, galaxies, dwarf stars, and much more. The imagery really does trick the mind into believing that everything is real. After a while I had to take it off because I was so dizzy. It blow my mind that this was only the beginning of the virtual reality gaming experience and that in later years it will evolve into something bigger. 

In my own opinion, I can see this being a great tool to educate people. This could be integrated into many educational programs in the library, with helping children learn about different historical events or even having a VR game of the Oregon Trail. Children's story books could be transformed into virtual reality story telling, with children going through a choose your own adventure type VR game. 

There are definitely ways to incorporate MUVE into the library and I will be very interested to see what type of path libraries choose to integrate this technology.  

War of the Social Networks: Twitter vs. Facebook

In the last decade the rise of social networks have dominated the internet. We all seem to be attached to at least one social media, either to stay in touch with distant relatives and old classmates or to stay current with media and entertainment. In recent times, we have been seeing a larger presence of institutions and companies interacting with their customers through social networks. Libraries and Information professionals have a new platform to help inform their patrons.
 Using twitter, libraries can inform their patrons about up coming events, library hours, and what's happening in the library at that moment. With twitters 140 character limit, their format is best used in succinct sentences. The positives of twitter is that, if used correctly, a few entries every hour, it can keep their followers engaged with the happenings of the library and staff. It would have to be run by someone that is proficient in posting entertaining and informative tweets. If these two things are not met, then the account can be boring and followers would loss interest quick.
When it comes to Facebook, these two issues don't really have to be met to help keep patrons informed and interested. For libraries using Facebook there is a way to keep followers informed of what is happening in the library throughout the week or month. There doesn't need to be a large amount of posting, because that could have a negative affect and annoy their followers. Facebook can be used more like a bulletin board for libraries to announce new events, technology, educational resources, and plenty more. For example you can take a look at IUPUI University Library's Facebook page and see how they post once a day about the events that are happening in the library.Because of this, there is not a high need to connect on a personal level with followers, unlike twitter.
Between picking between using twitter or Facebook, it really comes down to do with the patrons personal preference to these two types of social networks and how much they want to be involved with their libraries.