survey

I surveyed and now have completed this years Webolution. The only reason that I didn't finish in time for the $100.00 gift cert. was that I forgot about a week of vacation in Nov. where I would not be webolutioning!! Also, the shift in job positions sidetracked me a bit but that was all good! Now I have to go back and read other's blog's on their experiences and what they learned. Thank you Nancy and Cari for increasing my abilities to help patrons and myself. Bye for now, Bikinin in Fruita!!

Blogs

There are so many! I did like Nancy's Tastespotters because I love to bake and cook. I found a new cookie recipe on there that I may be trying out for the cookie exchange on the 16th of Dec. Plus it's always fun to look at food photos! I'm like Cari, I want pictures of what what I'm making. Must be that visual thing I have.

I really don't have any favorites of my own at this time. I guess that I don't spend much time on the Internet at home but if I find some I'll be sure to let you know. I do like my co-workers blogs that have been on webolution and I have learned a lot from everyone.

picnik

This is a site that I may be personally using a bunch. I used this site to work on a photo I took in Costa Rica a few years ago and it was easy fun and worked pretty well. I'm going to see if I can get that photo here to the blog site. That will be good practice for me.......moving something from one place to another on my computer!!!

I did get my edited photo posted to Facebook so those of you who are friends will find it there. The only thing I really didn't like much on picnik was their auto color feature. It could just be the photos I used to edit. They were all outdoors and my exposure etc. was pretty good without any editing so that may be why.

I liked this site and task!

Government websites

Snow day! I haven't had one of those since I was in high school! I'm glad as there are very large drifts that Gary and I will have to shovel before we leave our house to go anywhere. So......I will use today to finish my webolution tasks.

I have used the Mesa Co. website to find our house several times. The last time was to do research on appealing our tax assessment for 2009. (It didn't do any good!) The site is pretty user friendly I think and some links to help patrons would be the human services link and and also the benevolent link. Actually, any of them are helpful depending on what you are needing.

The state of Colorado site is pretty complete. The thing patrons are usually asking for these days is the unemployment information and registration page. Did you know under Education there is a spot for library references? There is info there for parents, students and several other categories. On the right side of that page under services there is a learn about wildlife link to the dept of wildlife. I thought that was cool and maybe going here to get storytime ideas and things for the younger patrons in my life.

tricky wiki

I scored 100 on this quiz and I did find some new things like the folder about trees! I didn't know that was in the Wiki. This was helpful in making me explore some parts of the Wiki I had not been to before. On to the next task!

Tiny and Zamzar

http://tinyurl.com/yfsj2vk - This is my tiny url from the Colo state library summer reading website. It went from 57 characters to 26. This is a very hand tool. Some URL's are ridiculously long and this makes it much easier to manage. Tiny took the 100 character URL for ALA's Guidelines for Choosing a Master Librarian program and shortened it to this,http://tinyurl.com/ddr4q7 - a mere 25 characters!

Since we are having a snow day I will finish my webolution tasks. I used Zamzar to convert a file of a little video of mine. It converted it but won't play it on my computer with Windows Media. The URL is so long, maybe I should tiny it and see if anyone else can get it to play!! It converted from a avi to 3gp file. MVI_1205.AVI - there is the conversion.

Professional Sites #17

We really are in the information age. Sometimes the new Bing commercial reminds me of me! So much information and how do you organize it and make the best use of it AND choose which is best for you? This will help those of us in the library world here in Mesa Co.
I had already visited WebJunction and set up an account there so that I could look at the courses that they offer but today I looked more in depth at what was there. Under the Tech. button there are things for everyone from beginner computer users on up. I think that it would be a good place to brush up on skills that you don't use every day and therefore get a little rusty on how to use them. There is a patron training button under library services that will be useful in helping students learn to use the library as they go into college. Also there is legal info etc. I thought there was good info on this one site.

I also think I would use Library Successes Wiki. Here there is everything from reference sharing to technology in the library to education for staff within the library system. I like that you can share what has worked for you with others so they can try it out and implement it in their library and visa versa. Under navigation I found a random page! Ever the curious person I wondered what could be there .......you have to look for yourself! It was different info every time I looked.
I will be bookmarking this for later use. Thanks for putting these links together for us. Oh, if there is ever a move in our future I could use the job posting too! Don't think that will be happening any time soon.

Open Office

I'm like Pastrami, What's not to like about free? I had open office on my new Dell laptop until I got my Office software and it works just fine. My husband has open office on a couple of his "expierments" at home and it works just great. Giving good service to our patrons is high on the core values of the library and knowing about open office and sharing that with patrons is "sweet". People using the public computers can use it and if they have gotten a new computer at home and it did not come with any office system installed you can direct them to Open Office and save them $$. For those who like to have input on a product or suggestions on improvement open office gives them an outlet to do just that. Hurray for Open Office!

Clipmarks

I got Clipmark to download along with Amplify. Found a video clip that I had on YouTube from awhile back of some mountain biking. Clipped it and it was supposedly going to my Facebook account. As of a few minutes it wasn't there so I'll look later on to see if it arrived. I also tried to post it to this blog but it keeps telling me that my username and password for the account aren't correct so again I'll try later and see if it works. It seems like it should be very easy but I must be missing something! From other people's blogs it looks like I'm not the only one who has issues with Clipmark! When I have success you will all be the first to know!

Oct. 22 I'm moving on. I tried clipping this morning again - different stuff and still could not get it to work. Maybe I'll ask Cari or Nancy about it when they in Fruita next time.

Audio Books

I'm happy that you put in this section for us. The more I work with this the better I will be able to help patrons especially over the phone. Here in Fruita almost always you are on the phone when helping with downloading audio. Since I am very visual sometimes it is a challenge to figure out what the patron is looking at when you most likely aren't looking at the same thing so more work in this area is always helpful.

I downloaded the media center to a staff computer here in Fruita for Netlibrary and I'll bring in my device later this week to see if it will download the title that I selected - Delectable Mountains by Earlene Fowler. If I am not able to do it here, I'll download media center at home and try there.

I like some of Overdrives features that Netlibrary didn't seem to have, namely the letters at the bottom of the page for searching authors or titles. Overdrive was faster here for searching because Netlibrary didn't have that option that I could find. However, Netlibrary is sort of like going the library and just browsing the stacks. You start at the "A's" and go from there. I put the Geography of Bliss on hold in Overdrive so when it becomes available to me I'll let you know if I downloaded it successfully. Vacation is coming soon so I will have something loaded to take along and listen to in the airport and in the plane or on the beach.........It will be easier than taking along a bunch of books that are heavy and take up precious luggage space! I must say though, a book with pages will most likely be going with me too!

Well.........I checked out Geo. of Bliss on the 14th of Oct. from Overdrive and I still am not able to get it to download from any computer at home or here in Fruita so.......a bit frustrating. I'm not sure what's up but I will try again with another title later.

Sounds and more music #13

I found Soundsnap sort of interesting but not too user friendly. The sounds that I downloaded were not the sounds that played as I downloaded and as some others have said, I don't know where they went once downloaded. It was fun to play with the sounds though. I guess they could be used in the library when a patron misbehaves (roaring lion) or if a ridiculous question has been asked (laughing, howling hyenas)! They could also be used in Powerpoint presentations to create some fun and something different (staff meetings, meetings that patrons set up for groups etc). Patrons could be directed to this site with the advice that they will need to take some time to get the effects they want.

Music is one of my favorite things in life so it was fun to check out even more sites. Did you know there is a category of Tex-Mex music? It's listed as a sub-genera of Latin on the Artist Server site. There was also a song Idranksomeboilingwaterbecauseiwantedtowhistle.(I almost couldn't type that because I'm used to writing with breaks between words!) After looking at some of the others I came back to Artist Server because for me it was the easiest to use. I found a band under regular ol country "Blue Coyote Band" and I may listen to them again. The singer had a nice voice and I could understand all the words plus I liked the band's sound. Why did I pick a band with the word coyote in it? Last weeks story time was coyote stories.........

Ok - Here's Bikinin in Fruita

Here's the closest thing to me in a bikini that you're going to get!

Best Buy Here I Come!!

Actually, that is my husband's battle cry not mine BUT.......since I have a gift card now who knows what will happen. My new laptop is in need of a portable home so I may use it towards that or......I'll let you know!! Awaiting the next tasks.

Novelist

Hey, nice to find some other Maggie fans out there!
It's good for you to have us explore Novelist because I tend to go to KDL all the time when I need a series list and that isn't the only place to visit.
This summer I actually printed out the Harry Potter series list and put it in a drawer because I had the question almost daily as to which book was next and I could never remember! Another popular author was Rick Riordan, his newest is "The Last Olympian". I found out in Novelist that the series name is actually "Percy Jackson and the Olympians". I had no idea what the name of the series was until Novelist. The other I looked at was Lemony Snicket series. I may go back and look at Boxcar Children because there are a bunch of them and I had people asking for them in order....Whew!

Author read alikes is another great tool I'll be using and directing patrons to. I found it will need to be a popular author such as Tony Hillerman, Louis L'Amour, Nevada Barr etc. I didn't find Maggie Sefton or Patti Hill in there. There are lots of Tony fans out there who have read all his books and now I can help them find some other authors who they may like. I don't know where I'll send them after they read all of Margaret Coel's books!

Lastly, Reccomended reads. I also will be using this tool. I had never even investigated here and there is lots of information. I searched under adventure and in there I found that there is a section for female adventures where there were several titles I may look into for myself. I have a patron who wants "true" stories, (she likes Anne Rule - but not always) and this is a spot where I can direct her to help find what she might like next.

Thanks for sending us to Novelist for more exploration. This is a wonderful tool for staff and patrons alike

Book Reports

I like this site! I had a hard time picking a favorite from the left side of the page because there is something for everyone depending on what they need at that time. For myself doing lots of storytimes and helping younger patrons, Kidsreads will be a helpful for series books, letting patrons know when a new read is coming, choosing titles from their favorite authors and much more. I liked the faith site too and the book report site .......I wonder how teachers feel about this!!!! I did notice that most of the reports were current reads and not necessarily things that you are assigned in high school or college. We have several bookclubs in Fruita and the spot for them will be helpful if they are ever stuck on what to try next in their club. For those of you writers out there (I know there are a bunch of you), the author website place might be just for you. You can get help making a website of your own. Very cool! I think there is something for everyone here.

Bibliography spot: I really don't have a favorite author, I read all sorts of stuff by all sorts of people but I like Maggie Sefton because she writes mysteries that are set in "Fort Collins", CO, her characters are interesting, and they read really fast. She also puts knitting patterns and sometimes a delicious food recipe so I get a three for one in her books. She was born in VA, now lives in CO and used to be a CPA and real estate agent. The other author I looked was local Patti Hill. She needs to be updated because they only have two of her novels listed (she has 4 or 5 now), and the only reviews are of her first book. Does she have to provide the new information? Just wondering.

Anyway, you are probably tired of reading this so ......bye

Task 10

Here we go with EBSCO....... This database has so much to offer but I will still need to work with it some more. It takes me awhile to use the correct search tools to get what I want but I finally found out which dark chocolate is the best, least expensive, least calories etc. from consumer reports. I used the date parameters of Sept. 2007 to Sept. 2009 and found four articles. When I limited it to 2008 to 2009 I think I only had two. I used the section where you could select photos of the item and was given several. I think that the folder option for storing your choices is very helpful if you are doing research and you will need to go back to what you saved. This way you don't have to print everything and not need it later on. By the way, the best chocolate according to C.R. is Cacao Reserve by Hersheys Extra Dark. It costs .68 per oz, has 157 calories per oz. Dove is in the good category and is a bit less expensive. On the same page as the chocolate you could read about Dysen vacuumes. That way you can sweep up any evidence of chocolate eating!

Bibliography Resource Center - Here I learned if you are an American cyclist no one is looking for you in this bibliography database! Lance Armstrong wasn't here and that suprised me. Neither was Maggie Sefton (she writes knitting mysteries) or Keith Urban. When I put in Jan Karon (author) however, she was there with two items, 62 magazine and new articles but no website. John Elway had 6 items, lots of mag and newspaper and 2 websites. Nicole Kidman has 2 items, several mag and newspapers and a couple of websites. I thought that this site was easy to use and gave good search options to find what you were looking for.

Website building

It's been so long since I've gotten to work on this I almost forgot how to blog!! Both Google and Weebly make website building pretty simple. I have started on Weebly but haven't gotten too much on there yet. I need to get some picture etc. on there to make it more interesting and personalized. For now, I just stuck with the Biking theme (not bikini!) but I may on my own time, make this my jewlery site. I will keep adding to this blog portion as I get things done. Now onto Google's site. More to follow.......
Oh, http://bikinginfruita.weebly.com

Numero 8

This was a very interesting task to investigate and I probably spent more time on this than I have any of the others so far. I think this site could help patrons with research of all types from finding images for reports, to a place where budding musicians can put their creations to be used and circulated. When I searched images for skiing in Colorado under Google images I was given many choices but when I used Flickr I had a much more limited selection and it would only accept skiing in the search not skiing in Colorado so if you are in a hurry and not picky about an image this may be the way to go.

When I used Jamendo it took me awhile to figure out what to put in the "tag" so I could get some selections. I guess I'm not familiar with the terms that some sites use for searching but once I figured it out I found lots of choices under Celtic music, folk etc. I think this site is full of information for myself and for patrons and you could spend lots of time here looking around.

It is nice to have another option to help patrons and it makes us look good when we can give them options for their questions.

Task 7

I actually liked all of these sites for different reasons. I signed up for Shelfari and now will have to go back and see if any of my friends are on it and then we can Facebook about it too!!! It looks like AllReaders may be the spot for those patrons who are very technical about their reads as they can get %'s of things. I haven't done enough blogging to decide if we should follow Boulder's but it looked like the teens & up like and use it.

This webolution stuff if pretty fun and I'm enjoying it!

Task 6

Good reminders of how everyone is responsible for customer service whether we are out in the patron world or behind the scenes. Since I'm still a fairly new employee everything was a good review and reminder of what our values etc are and how we all need to work together to fullfil them. Houston's Customer 123 was also helpful and pretty fun to look at. Good stuff all round.

Task 5 - placing holds

I am finally feeling like I have a good handle on this and can help patrons over the phone now without freaking out. I personally like to to my library account to place holds because everything is there and I don't have to go back and re-type my name or library card at any point. I am also able to renew and look at my reads if I want because I'm already in my account. I like using book bag for patrons if they have several books to request. If they only have one I may just search the catalog and request from there. Some depends on how much time I have or if there are lots of patrons needing help. I've been trying to teach as I help so patrons are comfortable placing their own holds from home 24/7. Sometimes I like millenium for movies and dvd's especially if it is a series. It seems to be easier to request from there when a series is involved.

Social Sites

Facebook facinates me. I have friends asking me "How does it work?" often. Most often they are asking can everyone on Facebook see everything I post? It does amaze me how many of use this site. Almost every patron gets on it or on My Space everytime they use the computers. I would like to learn how to help people use it and get better myself especially where they want to use it professionally and for employment etc. Words of advice though.......don't let Facebook etc. run your life! Make sure you live and interact with others face to face!

Task 3

Woo Hoo! I got 100 on this portion. Having us hunt on the library website for information is a very good thing to do. I am familiar with many portions of it but had never gone to the sitemap before. I don't know if my eyes just never landed on it before looking for it but maybe it could have a little larger text for those of us who are visually challenged! I learned some new things and gathered more info for future patron questions which all good.

music fun

I was somewhat familiar with Pandora but had never set up an account with them. Listfm I had never investigated before. I really didn't find any new artists but I did find out that Chris Isaak and I share the same birthdate! That was sort of cool. Oh, take that back, I did find one new artist I hadn't heard of before to try out. All my other favorites seem to be somewhat related to each other. For those who like to post things and link with Facebook etc. these sites let people participate and connect with other if they want.

Task one of webolution!!

Well, I now have a blog. Task number one completed. I have some other friends with blogs but I've never really gone to them and participated because email etc. is enough to keep up with!! Anyway, I can now help patrons make a blog if they want and it was very easy.