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.