Data Chatter

We have such a looooooong list of databases available here, that sometimes it seems overwhelming when you need to find something. Most of them aren't terribly useful for us down here, but some are fun.

Sanborn maps is one of my favorites to play with. The downside is that once you've used it to find your house throughout the last hundred or so years, there's no need to go back and revisit. Searching for my parents' house was a bust, but I was able to find my building, which was built in 1926 and named Scoville Manors. My friend Michele grew up down in southern IL, and her family owned the local funeral parlor. So I also went to her town, and watched the family business move and grow, and that was pretty fun, too. It's clunky as all hell to use, but the information is at least useful and interesting.

Some of the classes in Universal Class are really good - I read through some of the photography text books and learned a lot. One of the recommended texts for the Babysitting 101 class is an American Girl nonfiction book, so this might be a good resource for tweens getting ready to sit on their own.

Kidwise, I think the WorldBook databases are pretty comprehensive and easy to use. Grolier is also great, but currently unavailable remotely. (Eric is working to fix that.)

I've had the Overdrive Console loaded on my work computer since we got the new ones, and I've used it in the past, but now it's only playing mp3 audiobooks and not the wma format. (Sadly for me, the Doctor Who titles are wma.) It probably just needs an update, or maybe Windows Media does, which is only problematic here where I need IT to do all that for me.

I'm not totally sold on the idea of a dedicated eReader for myself, since Stanza on my Touch works so well, but I liked being able to play with the Nooks and Sony. I like how fast the Nook Color moves, but I don't like the screen or needing to swipe to turn the page. The black and white Nook has a similar eInk format that a Kindle has, which is excellent for reading, and has perfectly placed buttons for turning pages, but each page refreshed SO SLOWLY OMG. It took a few seconds, and for part of that, both the old page and new page are overlaid on top of each other. It's a mess. The Sony had similar refreshing issues, although less slow, and the buttons were very awkwardly placed. I'll stick with the iTouch for now.

I was really, really surprised to see how easy it is to download anything from MOD and move it to any of these devices. When I tried it in grad school, it was horribly clunky, but they've really made some good strides. It really was as simple as drag and drop and go. (Okay, that's after you've installed all the software, which is still an annoyance.) Still, I think it'll be worth downloading the Console to my home computer and putting the audiobooks on my iPod, instead of just using the Overdrive app on my iTouch. (Which is super easy to use but, like my work computer, can only load mp3 audios.)

Databasics

Looking through our kids' databases I was reminded/made aware that:

• it's good to look through our databases...because it's easy to forget what we've got, even without the annual updates!
• during African-American HistoryMonth, I should definitely show patrons the African-American History Online database when they ask for relatively obscure bios.
• LearningExpressLibrary and Tutor.com both have older elementary math and reading reviews/preps, though neither really put things like worksheets front and center.
• World Book Online for Kids has a very short article entitled "Animals Have Babies." Now I'm dying for a kid to ask me whether or not animals have babies...and whether I can prove it.
• the Gale student Resources In Context is amazing for helping older kids with projects on "big issues."

Looking through our adult databases I was reminded/made aware that:

• though we offer access to the more-and-more popular Ancestry.com, it's only available here at the Library.
• the American History In Video db is the most splendid thing EVER. A mix of contemporary, documentary, and vintage films all about America. As far as I can tell, most of the videos come with transcripts, but I especially love the soundless ones from the turn of the last century, like this one.
• INFOTRAC is a big deal/portal.
• Oh, yeah! We've got access to Consumer Reports. So cool.

Finally, I tried to download the Overdrive Media Console to my work PC figuring it'd be easy peasy...but so far I can't get around the "you can't download nuthin'" rules for these PCs. I'll ask Shelley or Curt if it's possible. Looking forward to the technology petting zoo Shelley's bringing us next week! [I wish I could have put in on my personal Kindle, but Amazon is a harsh mistress.]

Unit Three Adventures

I'm glad we're doing this, even if I can't seem to remember my login name and password for google reader. If I don't at least try new technologies I'll just get farther and farther behind. I don't see alot of people besides staff contributing to the the teen website. Maybe teens are too self conscious? I wonder how Amazon does it? I used to bookmark alot of websites so I liked Delicious. I'd love to see a library wide calender including both library sponsored and private events listed, so maybe Google docs could accomplish that. I can also see it for things like what supplies to order, what to buy for Storystop etc. I'd like to do a pre Harry Potter event called Bookopoly so here's my list of goofy activities so far!

Technology Adventure, Unit Four

Unit four: Databases
3/21-4/3

Explore databases: We have a ton of databases, with something for everyone. Start exploring on our Study page, and then branch off to the adult tools. Find your house in Sanborn maps, find some new-to-you artists in American Song, learn about your co-workers' auras in Universal Class, find out why NSYNC is listed in the Culinary Arts database, etc.

Media On Demand: We all need to have more practice with this when patrons ask. Please download Overdrive Media Console to your computer and/or eReader. Kindles are not supported, unfortunately, but iPhones, Androids, Blackberries, Nooks and Sonys are, among others.

Starting Monday, March 28, I will have the Sony Reader, Nook, iPad, Nano and a laptop from the Tech Toolkit down here for us to practice loading downloadables. (Use the laptop to transfer audiobooks to the Nano, as well as to use Adobe Digital Editions to read eBooks.) You can set up a time to go over some of the steps with me, if you like. ATS is also hosting an Overdrive training on March 24 and 25 – even if you attend one of those, please take extra time to play and familiarize yourself with the devices, steps and potential pit-falls.

On your Mobile device, search for the Overdrive app and download. For desktops, follow the directions in Quick Start Guide, from the top left sidebar. Once you have it downloaded, browse the titles and check out an audiobook or eBook.

Post on the blog about what you’ve learned – share a database that will be useful on the desk, another that was just fun, tell us about your experiences with Overdrive, etc. Don’t forget to tag/label it “unit four.”

More toe dipping

So, I got kind of frustrated with Delicious. I think it's the sheer volume of bookmarks that make my head hurt a bit from too much information all at once. I do like Google Reader, and I think it will be useful in selection (as Danny pointed out) but also for keeping track of programming blogs/ideas. There are a LOT of great things out there for storytime ideas. I'd like to collaborate more with google docs, particularly spreadsheet data across departments. This was another great lesson. Extra thanks to Rory for showing me how to use tabs in firefox--I'll save so much time!

I'm totally gonna blog about this later

At first, I was reluctant to use Google Reader. I wanted to keep my internet experience fun and casual, and I was afraid that an RSS feed would dilute the joy of random blog discovery. Then I was given responsibility for the graphic novel collection, and I suddenly realized there are 100 million comics blogs. So I made a Reader account and I couldn’t be happier with the results. It makes selecting so easy and efficient for me. That probably won’t be the case for a lot of people in the department (Gennie pointed out that there aren’t a ton of Easy Readers blogs out there), but it sure was a godsend for me. Thanks, tech adventures!

I was a little less impressed with the rest of this unit. While they are probably useful tools, I had trouble finding a reason to use Delicious or Google Alerts/Docs (if you’re curious, I’ve compiled some research findings here). And apparently the comment I left on the teen site was rejected. Probably shouldn’t have cursed so much.

One other thing—I’ve been using Jennifer N.’s facebook wall as my own personal blog—I encourage you to join me.

You are a tool.

I am a fan of Delicious, though it took a while for me really to start using it. Most of my links are recipes, craft projects and gift ideas. If I'm away from home, I tend to just email myself a link and tag it later, which I know is completely ridiculous. I did remember my password, so I can access my stuff remotely (yay!), but I rarely need to. Sharing cool links amongst the department via the blog or email is still fine by me.




I've set up a Google Doc that I'd love for you all to add to! It's a spreadsheet of book characters and where they are from so that I can make a cool map for the SRP windows. Here's the link. But, honestly, I'd be just as happy printing it out and keeping a copy at the desk to add to. Which doesn't mean Google Docs is worthless to me, just this doc.



OPPL Teen I have mixed feelings about. (I still owe y'all a book review.) As a parent, I'd be more interested in having updates from Kids along the lines of "Tickets now available for T.R. Loon, Juggler!" or "Don't forget, ST break for the next two weeks." An email list or Facebook account would be fine for that. I don't think we'd get enough interactive participation to make it worthwhile for something broader.

Wow, I sound like a tech hater, huh? Basically, I'm a fan of all these things, but don't support getting too tech crazy (yet) just for the sake of newness. I can be swayed, though. Especially by cookies.

Dipping my toe in teen territory

I like the look of the teen web site a lot (the colors are great!) and it's very clear what's happening at the library today and next week. It was hard to figure out how to create a new book review at first, probably because the text was a little too small for me old eyes. Once I clicked on a particular review it was a bit confusing about where to go from there. I love how easy this is to contribute original content, and the navigation is fairly straightforward and clear. I'm not a huge fan of the polls (and "chairity" is spelled wrong), but maybe the kids like them?