A grab bag of sites, all worth a click: LISZEN to blogs on information science, or listen to podcasts from college students. Or just work on your New Year's resolutions

Information Outlook, Jan, 2007 by Carolyn J. Sosnowski

New Year's Resolutions Guide www.umm.edu/features/resolutions_guide.htm

Happy New Year! As I was preparing this column, a colleague recommended including a site for those of us who are putting a positive spin on the new year by starting projects and setting other types of goals. The staff at the University of Maryland Medical Center has compiled some suggestions for a successful 2007, and we should try to apply these in our professional lives as well. A few to get you started: set realistic, attainable goals, share goals with others to keep yourself on track, use mistakes as opportunities for learning, and begin as soon as possible to get the momentum going. And reward yourself for a job well done!

LISZEN www.liszen.com

I can't help it ... I'm all about the blogs. The new LISZEN--Library and Information Science Search Engine--uses Google Co-op, a create-your-own search engine, to search LIS blogs. Garrett Hungerford, the site's creator (also a public library network manager and an LIS student), started with the blogs listed on LISWiki (also worth a click), and now there are more than 500 blogs to search. If yours isn't listed, add your blog to the LISZEN wiki and submit your contact information. Simple. And now, simpler to find that post about [your topic here] that you know you read but can't remember where.

LiSRadio www.lisradio.missouri.edu

What are the LIS students up to these days? At the University of Missouri-Columbia, they're podcasting. Check out LiSRadio, where you'll find conversations on jobs and other LIS topics, plus interviews with vendors, publishers, and professors. Download a podcast from the archives, or view the calendar for upcoming shows of interest and listen live. Lots of instructions for listeners and participants. Subscribe to feeds for individual series or all of them. Some content is directed at local students, but you'll likely find something to listen to and even a few ideas for a podcasting in your own information center.

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KnittingHelp www.knittinghelp.com

Amy Finlay has put together a detailed guide to knitting. Although learning from an individual or in a class may be optimal, the instructions and videos here are descriptive enough to get a beginner going on simple projects. Finlay offers helpful suggestions throughout, from cast-on to knit and purl to bind-off, and many stitches in between. Learn about tension, yarn types, needles, and how to correct errant stitches. The site includes links to free patterns, and there are forums and chat to share and learn from others.

BY CAROLYN J. SOSNOWSKI, MLIS