I was really fortunate to be able to participate in 23 things. Before participating, I felt like I had heard about all the different tools and resources we explored, and I knew *basically* what they did, but I didn't really know how to go about exploring them. I love how this program provided tutorials as well as exercises that forced you to use the tools and thus really see how they work. I hope that the Frederick Participants program blog will stay up because it would be a really good reference to go back to in the future if I need to refresh myself on how to use some of the tools. I can also see how tools like wikis and Rollyo could be helpful to libraries. I was amazed how all of these tools are so multifunctional, in that they can be most effectively used in social and professional sphere.
I am really excited to be able to incorporate these tools into my professional and personal life and I thank you for the opportunity!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Audiobooks via Overdrive
I looked at Audiobooks through Overdrive through FCPL. When I first started working at the library, I was trained on ebooks and audiobooks available through NetLibrary and Overdrive, so I felt like I sort of knew what to expect. However, the last time I visited the site, I don't remember seeing any indication of whether the audiobook could be burned to CD or not. If you wanted to find this information, I feel like you had to pull up the record for each individual title. If this is a new feature, I think it's great! I saw that Pendragon Book 1: The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale is available as an audiobook through Overdrive AND it is possible to burn this to a CD.
I am a huge fan of audiobooks, and I can't imagine life without them! I'm glad that there are services available that make additional copies of popular audiobooks available to patrons. I also briefly glanced over the audiobooks available on Project Gutenberg, and I was floored to see that there is a pretty good selection of audiobook resources available. I was impressed that this site offered audiobooks in different languages. It is important to know about this site because they have a lot of the classics on audiobooks, and this would be useful to recommend to patrons (perhaps students) who need access to the classics for schoolwork. This is especially useful in the public library setting if a lot of high school students in the county are assigned to read the same title, and all of the circulating copies are unavailable. Having the knowledge to be able to turn patrons to the resources of Overdrive and Project Gutenberg will help us really target and meet user needs.
I am a huge fan of audiobooks, and I can't imagine life without them! I'm glad that there are services available that make additional copies of popular audiobooks available to patrons. I also briefly glanced over the audiobooks available on Project Gutenberg, and I was floored to see that there is a pretty good selection of audiobook resources available. I was impressed that this site offered audiobooks in different languages. It is important to know about this site because they have a lot of the classics on audiobooks, and this would be useful to recommend to patrons (perhaps students) who need access to the classics for schoolwork. This is especially useful in the public library setting if a lot of high school students in the county are assigned to read the same title, and all of the circulating copies are unavailable. Having the knowledge to be able to turn patrons to the resources of Overdrive and Project Gutenberg will help us really target and meet user needs.
Podcasts
I have been curious about subscribing to a certain podcast, but I didn't use any of the pre-supplied podcast directories to find it. Instead, I used the ALA homepage to search for the YALSA podcast, and from there I was able to link to the site where I could download these podcasts http://www.pod-serve.com/podcasts/show/yalsa-podcasts
I really had no idea how useful these podcasts could be for learning tips about the library field. I started listening to some of the YALSA podcasts, and they were not what I thought they would be at all. I'm glad I was able to add the feed to my Bloglines account. I was surprised because at first, I thought maybe they would be completely dedicated to advertising ALA programs, etc., but they're not. They provide practical advice and tips, as well as information about YALSA in general.
When I was looking at Yahoo Podcasts to see if I could also access the YALSA podcasts that way, I couldn't figure out how to get from the Yahoo Podcasts site to the YALSA podcast homepage and I found that a little discouraging. I think this is a great communication tool and I am eager to download some YALSA podcasts to my iPod. I think they will be a nice alternative to listening to music and they will help increase my awareness of issues in the young adult services field.
I really had no idea how useful these podcasts could be for learning tips about the library field. I started listening to some of the YALSA podcasts, and they were not what I thought they would be at all. I'm glad I was able to add the feed to my Bloglines account. I was surprised because at first, I thought maybe they would be completely dedicated to advertising ALA programs, etc., but they're not. They provide practical advice and tips, as well as information about YALSA in general.
When I was looking at Yahoo Podcasts to see if I could also access the YALSA podcasts that way, I couldn't figure out how to get from the Yahoo Podcasts site to the YALSA podcast homepage and I found that a little discouraging. I think this is a great communication tool and I am eager to download some YALSA podcasts to my iPod. I think they will be a nice alternative to listening to music and they will help increase my awareness of issues in the young adult services field.
YouTube...and Jack Rabbit Bauer!
Is anyone else a fan of the show 24? I certainly am, and thus I was delighted to find this fun video available on YouTube. I was nervous about this video at first because I didn't see a disclaimer indicating that animals were NOT harmed in the making of this film...nor was there any indication that Jack Rabbit Bauer would emerge from his adventure unscathed. But hey- I took a chance and I think it's really a fun video to watch - so enjoy! :)
I think this site could definitely be useful for libraries. Thinking back a few posts about Library 2.0 and Rick Anderson's thoughts on "icebergs", I think we could use YouTube to educate patrons. We could create trainings on collection (or library) specific resources, or on how to go about using a certain tool or database. Also, I think we could use YouTube to publicize library-sponsored events, or events in which the library would participate. This could give patrons a taste of what they could experience when attending a program or event - kind of like a commercial.
I know this is kind of a stretch, but maybe even non-profit community groups like the Literacy council could create a short video using this technology to encourage volunteers to participate in the community outreach activities. I think this tool could provide a nice interactive dimension to libraries' communications with their patrons and interactions with their communities.
I think this site could definitely be useful for libraries. Thinking back a few posts about Library 2.0 and Rick Anderson's thoughts on "icebergs", I think we could use YouTube to educate patrons. We could create trainings on collection (or library) specific resources, or on how to go about using a certain tool or database. Also, I think we could use YouTube to publicize library-sponsored events, or events in which the library would participate. This could give patrons a taste of what they could experience when attending a program or event - kind of like a commercial.
I know this is kind of a stretch, but maybe even non-profit community groups like the Literacy council could create a short video using this technology to encourage volunteers to participate in the community outreach activities. I think this tool could provide a nice interactive dimension to libraries' communications with their patrons and interactions with their communities.
Web 2.0 awards explorations
I chose to look at a site from the category of "City Guides and Reviews". I am already familiar with Yelp.com, so I decided to look at Judy's Book, http://www.judysbook.com. This site provides users with access to information about sales both online and from local retailers. To get local retail information, users enter their city and state or their zip code.
I entered the terms "Frederick, MD", and got 7,905 results. Under the "Types" feature, you can sort your deals by type, and I sorted mine by "in-store deals". What I didn't realize when I first went to the site was that most of the deals were from major (or at least bigger) chain retailers. I thought maybe there would be some information about actual local, non-chain retailers, who maybe do not have a web presence. You can also filter the results by store, and by tag. I found the tags sorting feature to be more useful than sorting by store, because stores like Target have a lot of different departments and a variety of products, unlike stores like The Camera Shop. By looking at the tags, I could see which deals were related specifically to things like "back to school" stuff.
I was a little disappointed that a lot of the deals were really for online shopping. I thought that the advertised "local" component was even a little more misleading because of this. I still would (and plan to) use this site though. I especially like how this site has a listing of store deals, as WELL as coupon codes. Some of the coupon sites I go to have not been very useful, but this site seems to be very legitimate and I think that coupon codes from here would be current too.
I think this particular resource may not be as useful for libraries as would a review site, such as Yelp. On the listing of Web 2.0 awards, I feel that Judy's Book may have been more aptly placed under the category "Shopping" as opposed to "City Guides & Reviews".
I entered the terms "Frederick, MD", and got 7,905 results. Under the "Types" feature, you can sort your deals by type, and I sorted mine by "in-store deals". What I didn't realize when I first went to the site was that most of the deals were from major (or at least bigger) chain retailers. I thought maybe there would be some information about actual local, non-chain retailers, who maybe do not have a web presence. You can also filter the results by store, and by tag. I found the tags sorting feature to be more useful than sorting by store, because stores like Target have a lot of different departments and a variety of products, unlike stores like The Camera Shop. By looking at the tags, I could see which deals were related specifically to things like "back to school" stuff.
I was a little disappointed that a lot of the deals were really for online shopping. I thought that the advertised "local" component was even a little more misleading because of this. I still would (and plan to) use this site though. I especially like how this site has a listing of store deals, as WELL as coupon codes. Some of the coupon sites I go to have not been very useful, but this site seems to be very legitimate and I think that coupon codes from here would be current too.
I think this particular resource may not be as useful for libraries as would a review site, such as Yelp. On the listing of Web 2.0 awards, I feel that Judy's Book may have been more aptly placed under the category "Shopping" as opposed to "City Guides & Reviews".
Test document _23 things
This is just a test document. I'm experimenting with fonts® and symbols.
It's cool that you can insert emoticons in these documents as well! I can't do that in Microsoft Office. I just inserted a picture of a fish that came with computer, but I can't figure out how to get the cursor to move below the image.
Oh here we go. It was easier after I shrank the image.
| I like that I can insert a table into the document as in Microsoft Word. I really enjoy the table drawing feature where you can click on the number of columns and rows you want for the table, instead of having to type in the numbers. | ||
Zoho Writer and Google Docs
In my spring '07 semester of school, I used Google Docs as a collaborative tool with other classmates with whom I was working on a project. We were all enrolled in an online course for which we needed to submit a paper, so Google Docs was invaluable in allowing us to complete this assignment with ease. This was my first experience with Google Docs, so I really enjoyed the experience AFTER I learned how to navigate and use it. Since I've used Google Docs before, I decided to try something new now and to explore Zoho Writer.
Overall, Zoho Writer was really easy to use, and I posted (hopefully successfully) my test document to my blog, so reference that if you want to see some of my thoughts on the tool!
Overall, Zoho Writer was really easy to use, and I posted (hopefully successfully) my test document to my blog, so reference that if you want to see some of my thoughts on the tool!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
